Congress Issues Letter to Attorney General on Minors in Adult Prisons
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The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), passed in 2003, is aimed at addressing the tremendous problem of sexual violence in our prison system. The Department of Justice is currently considering standards to improve the safety of the system, a system that poses a particular danger to minors housed in adult facilities.
Congress recently released a letter addressed to Attorney General Holder regarding the safety of under-18 youth held in adult prisons and jails. In studies conducted by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, it became shockingly clear that minors represent the most at-risk demographic in correctional facilities. According to a 2005 study by the Bureau of Justices Statistics (BJS), 21% of the victims of sexual violence in prisons and jails are under 18. Only 1% of the jail and prison population is under 18, meaning that minors are subject to a disproportionately high risk of sexual violence.
This letter is Congress’ plea to the Attorney General to issue a final rule that removes all minors from adult prisons and jails. As it stands, the standards tentatively proposed by the Department of Justice will only lead to solitary confinement of minors within adult facilities, promulgating a different set of problems: the anxiety and paranoia that come with isolation. Congress petitions that the Attorney General not trade one dangerous practice—integration of minors and adults—for another, mentally unhealthy isolation of those minors.
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