U.S. Issues Far-Reaching Rules to Stem Prison Rape
U.S. Issues Far-Reaching Rules to Stem Prison Rape
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
Published: May 17, 2012
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday issued the first comprehensive federal rules aimed at “zero tolerance” for sexual assaults against inmates in prisons, jails and other houses of detention.
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The regulations, issued after years of discussions among officials and prisoner advocacy groups, address a problem that a new government study finds may afflict one out of every 10 prisoners, more than twice as many as suggested by an earlier survey.
Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003, and the rules to carry it out are the first to address federal, state and local prisons and jails, including institutions holding juveniles.
The standards are binding on federal prisons, and states that do not comply could lose 5 percent of their federal financing.
In enacting the law, Congress asked the prison system to address what was, if not a completely unseen epidemic, one that was not being taken seriously enough, and to do so without imposing a “substantial” cost.
Even so, the government expects the rules to cost billions of dollars to achieve fully — perhaps as much as $7 billion, which is less than 1 percent of the system’s overall cost, over the next 15 years, depending on how they are carried out.
Advocates said the rules would end up saving money — for example, by avoiding the medical costs of injuries suffered by rape victims.
Jamie Fellner, an expert on the subject with Human Rights Watch, said the costs would not be very high for any single facility, except perhaps those where very little has been done to address the problem.
“If states don’t want to pay the costs, then they have to reduce their prison populations,” she said. “If you are going to put them in prison, you have to keep them safe.”
The standards focus on prevention, supervision and changing the prison culture, not on setting numerical standards for results.
“In popular culture,” said a summary of the rules issued on Thursday, “prison rape is often the subject of jokes; in public discourse, it has been at times dismissed by some as an inevitable — or even deserved — consequence of criminality. But sexual abuse is never a laughing matter, nor is it punishment for a crime. Rather, it is a crime, and it is no more tolerable when its victims have committed crimes of their own.”
Among many provisions, the rules set targets for the staffing of juvenile facilities, but in recognition of the expense, this requirement does not take effect for five years, unless otherwise required by existing rules or judicial orders.
The Justice Department said it would help states with grants to support demonstration projects and would support a national center on prison rape that would work on prevention strategies, detection and reporting, and other practices to keep inmates safe.
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