Left-Right Coalition Demands Stop to Prison Rape

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A broad coalition from the political left and right has called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to cease any further delay in eliminating prison rape. Calling the high incidence of prison rape “a moral outrage,” Prison Fellowship and supporters from both liberal and conservative organizations unveiled a letter to Mr. Holder demanding an end to sexual abuse in prisons across the country.

The importance of quick action to end prison rape was underscored by an unusual gathering of influential organizations that regularly oppose each other or are at odds with each other setting aside their strong differences to urge Attorney General Holder to speed up his adoption of standards to hold prison officials accountable for fighting prison rape. The diversity of the groups at the press conference is impressive: American Civil Liberties Union, Focus on the Family, NAACP, American Conservative Union, Family Research Council, The Sentencing Project, National Association of Evangelicals, Open Society Policy Center,    Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Human Rights Watch, and United Methodist Board of Church and Society. This issue is so important to these leaders that they have set aside their strong differences to say in one voice, “End prison rape now.”

While prison rape is often the subject of jokes on late night television, in reality prison rape is no laughing matter. The extent of rape in America’s prisons is appalling. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) found that in 2007 one in every twenty inmates had been sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months. That is more than 60,000 prisoners sexually assaulted in one year. Even worse, the BJS found that among juvenile detainees one in eight had been sexually assaulted!

Speaking at the press conference was Marilyn Shirley, who was raped by a guard while in a federal prisoner in Texas. As the officer was raping her he growled in her ear, “Don’t even think of telling.  It’s your word against mine and you will lose.  Do you think they’ll believe an inmate like you or a fine upstanding officer like me?” He was right; the prison officials did not believe her. But Marilyn was brave enough to save her sweat pants with the guard’s DNA on them. She hid them until she was released and then handed them to a prison official and told them that the sweat pants would prove they had a rapist working for them. The guard was convicted of raping her and is still in prison.

It is a scandal that people housed in the custody of the government are not safe from sexual attack. No matter how terrible the crime, the sentence should not include being raped. In 2003 Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which established a policy of zero tolerance of prison rape. This legislation established the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission to develop standards to hold prison officials accountable for ending prison rape. The Commission held hearings across the country, taking testimony from many dedicated corrections officials who have made stopping prisoner rape a priority—and who have done it successfully.

The Commission also heard from victims who told of the ways in which they were left vulnerable to predators. They gave firsthand accounts of how they were given no assistance in recovering from their rape. The Commission also took testimony from corrections officials who told us of the practical difficulties they encounter in trying to protect the inmates in their facilities.

The Commission distilled these real life experiences—what kinds of sexual assaults occur in prisons, how and where they happen , and what specific actions can reduce prison rape—and proposed standards to guide prison officials as they work to achieve zero tolerance for prison rape as called for in the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The standards have proven so practical and helpful to prison administrators that the states of California and Oregon implemented them immediately.

However, other prison systems are waiting for the Attorney General to act. The next step in the process is approval of the standards by the U.S. Attorney General. The standards were sent to Mr. Holder in June of 2009—not two months ago, but June of last year, and, yet, they await his approval. The DOJ is already in violation of the PREA statute which required that the review be completed by June of this year. Yet, indications are that it will be at least another year before the AG acts on them.

We know that Mr. Holder has a strong personal commitment to end prison rape. Unfortunately, the Attorney General is involved in so many complex international and domestic issues that he has not been able to concentrate on ending prison rape, despite his personal commitment

Because this issue has not risen to the top of his list, the bureaucracy that always resists changes—particularly changes like the standards which will hold them accountable for results—is “hugging the standards to death.” They are not outright opposing them, but they have presented the Attorney General with a timeline and process that will duplicate what the Commission has already done and that will delay the implementation of the standards by at least a year.

Many who originally denied that rapes were occurring in prisons now minimize the problem of prison rape and exaggerate the cost of preventing it. Given that over $68 billion is spent on corrections each year and that just one state’s prison system recently paid $100 million to settle claims of female inmates who were raped by their guards, the expenses of implementing the Commission’s standards is quite limited and would truly be money well spent. The $100 million settlement would have paid for a whole lot of prevention. More important, who can put a value on the physical and psychological damage of being forcibly raped and knowing your custodians could have prevented it but did not?

This is a matter of critical importance. The BJS studies show that inmates are raped in our prisons every day—on average over 115 adults and nine juveniles are sexually assaulted each and every day. We know the standards will be effective at preventing rapes. Each passing day without the standards being in place means more inmates will suffer the trauma of rape.

You can help us in this effort to get quick action on the prison rape standards. Please click on our End Prison Rape Now site where you will find a sample letter to Attorney General Holder and many resources that will help you inform your congregation, neighbors, Bible study, service club or other groups that can join us in this effort. If we don’t speak up to protect prisoners from rape, who will?

In His service,

Pat Nolan

Resources

Justice Fellowship End Prison Rape Now resource page

Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)

Report of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission

Proposed Standards on Prison Rape