Guidelines to Reduce Prison Rape
Jul 1, 2009
A panel of experts appointed by the federal government released a report in late June that calls on corrections officials in prisons and detention facilities to step up efforts to eliminate the scourge of prison rape and sexual assault. The report recommends that prison staff members be subject to robust background checks and given better training to ensure that they can take effective steps to identify vulnerable inmates. Prisons should also offer better medical care and allow stricter monitoring of their facilities.
The recommendations were issued by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, a panel convened in response to a law to reduce prison rape that was signed by President Bush in 2003. Attorney General Eric Holder has one year to respond to the recommendations with a national set of guidelines for state corrections officers.
Rape and sexual abuse are widespread behind prison bars, according to a 2007 survey of state and federal prisoners. More than 60,000 inmates were abused in 2006, the survey found. The actual number of victims is likely higher because they tend to be reluctant to come forward and report abuse.
“Prison rape is cruel and unusual punishment,” writes the Washington Post in an editorial in support of the report’s findings. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly found that sexual abuse is ‘not part of the penalty that criminal offenders pay for their offenses against society.’ Eradicating it requires a change of mind-set as well as of rules. A culture that jokes about prison rape perpetuates the expectation that rape is a legitimate part of a prison sentence. It is not.”
To view the new report, click here.
