Prison Rape Elimination Act Becomes Federal Law

Stop Prison Rape ^ | 8SEP03 | Stop Prison Rape

[familyop]

Press Release

Prison Rape Elimination Act Becomes Federal Law

September 4, 2003

SPR Hails Historic Move Toward Safer, More Humane Detention

WASHINGTON D.C. – President George W. Bush signed into law the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 today, marking the first time the U.S. government has ever passed a law to deal with sexual assault behind bars.

“The passage of this law is a major milestone, finally bringing prisoner rape out of the shadows,” said Lara Stemple, executive director of Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR), a national human rights organization that has worked on the issue for more than two decades.

The law calls for the gathering of national statistics about the problem; the development of guidelines for states about how to address prisoner rape; the creation of a review panel to hold annual hearings; and the provision of grants to states to combat the problem.

“We hope this bill will be the beginning of real reform,” Stemple said. “And, progress will also require improved mental health services for survivors, lawsuits aimed at reform, and greater sympathy on the part of the public.”

The president signed the bill this morning at an Oval Office ceremony attended by two survivors of prisoner rape, Tom Cahill and Hope Hernandez. Cahill serves as president of the Board of Directors SPR, and Hope Hernandez is a member of the group’s Board of Advisors.

“We know we’ve come a long way when survivors of prisoner rape are invited to the White House with dignity rather than marginalized and ignored,” Stemple said.

In 1968, Cahill was beaten and gang-raped in San Antonio, Texas after being arrested for civil disobedience. Hernandez, also a nonviolent offender, was repeatedly raped by a corrections officer in 1997 in a privately run facility adjacent to the Washington D.C. jail.

One in five men in prison has been sexually abused, often by other inmates. Rates for women, who are most likely to be abused by male staff, reach as high as one in four in some facilities.

CONTACT: ALEX COOLMAN 323/653-7867, EXT. 101 ACOOLMAN@SPR.ORG

[familyop]

Sodomy is way wrong anywhere, and forced sodomy is worse. What kind of male and female feminist perverts would want it to happen anyplace and at the price of going to hell for promoting it? What kind of fantasy must they have? And yes, I'm begging the questions.

Cheers to the Pres. for signing the bill!

And BTW, I looked and did not see this news in any other publication.

[Enterprise]

Sexual predators attack others inside or outside prison. This law is long overdue.

[cyborg]

and greater sympathy on the part of the public.”

** This will be a tall order as sometimes prisoners like to give child molesters and murderers a taste of their own medicine.

[lelio]

Good for Bush, finally someone's doing something about this. A prison sentence shouldn't be a death sentence (unless, of course, it is one) nor a sentence to be raped.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

To decrease temptation, this should be in every prisoner's kit:

[FormerLib]

"I was in prison..."

Bump and ping!

[ChemistCat]

Thank you. I've long said that we are not reducing rape by locking rapists up with nonviolent offenders. All we do is give them a captive victim pool who may themselves become rapists in their turn. And all usually get out in time to wreak havoc on the rest of us again. I understand that HIV rates in prison are tremendously higher than the general population.

[Joe Bfstplk]

Perhaps some of the looney leftists could perform marriage cerremonies...

[hasegawasama]

About time. Too many marijuana and robbery offenders who aren't THAT twisted, and were usually young, getting raped by hardened mass murders and rapists is an unspeakable crime.

[hasegawasama]

About time. Too many marijuana and robbery offenders who aren't THAT twisted, and were usually young, getting raped by hardened mass murders and rapists is an unspeakable crime.

[familyop]

My record is spotless. I have held a few sensitive
positions, swearing to uphold our Constitution in each of
them. But let prisoners serve their time, become clean and
start over. If we had a truly just country, we would have
boot camps instead of prisons. Their would be no prison
industry, and the state would try to lower recidivism by
protecting and respecting fatherhood in order to lower
its costs. And we would not use unconstitutional statutes
to put fathers in prison (debtors' prisons, imprisonments
for no more than violations of their 2nd Amendment rights
and mere accusations by ex-wives). Also,...

King James Version

Matthew 5:38-45,
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

[familyop]

"** This will be a tall order as sometimes prisoners like to give child molesters and murderers a taste of their own medicine."

This also applies to those who keep having such wishes
without repenting. The answer is not to cause more
abomination to occur.

Corinthians 6:9
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Deuteronomy 23:17
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor
a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

Leviticus 20:13
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

and for our opposition promoting abominations in prisons,

Proverbs 30:20
Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

I Kings 14:24
And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

[cyborg]

Yeah I understand what you are trying to say. Unfortunately when child molesters go to jail, people are happy because they know that they're going to get a beat down. Not too many people lose sleep over them. Actually most folks do not care about prisoners at all. Maybe that's why Jesus made a point about going to visit them.

[Agnes Heep]

Like most such laws, I'm sure it will be honored in the breech.

[dfwgator]

One simple way to end prison rapes. Don't allow prisoners to congregate together at all. Get rid of the rec rooms and TVs, and just splash some water on them so they don't have to go into the showers.

[familyop]

"Unfortunately when child molesters go to jail, people are happy because they know that they're going to get a beat down. Not too many people lose sleep over them. Actually most folks do not care about prisoners at all. Maybe that's why Jesus made a point about going to visit them."

...so true. Child rapists are way creepy! ...makes one
way PO'd to think about it. But you know that we're also
in a weird, sick world. The more heinous the crime,
the less evidence we require? What kind of sense does
that make? Has Robert Blake ever had a trial, yet?
...don't know, because I turned off perversion sat TV
a few months ago.

We should do Moses' law, IMO. Granted, it would be
soft on crime by today's standards, but maybe it would
work better than what we're doing by throwing the
innocent along with the guilty in torture chambers for
years and years. Have you seen the stats on prisoners
released from rape terms after DNA tests proved their
innocence? Thousands and thousands...

Or maybe we should give them hard labor for a short
period every day followed by silent singles cells with
the monotheistic books of their choice. But it's a
shame for our great country to have the largest per
capita prison population in the world, isn't it?

[familyop]

"One simple way to end prison rapes. Don't allow prisoners to congregate together at all. Get rid of the rec rooms and TVs, and just splash some water on them so they don't have to go into the showers."

...not bad. Actually, they could bathe pretty well out of
a little bucket of water, some soap, a wash rag and a towel.
...only if they're max, though.

And to tell you the truth, I'd rather supervise a chain gang
any day than watch 'em beat on each other during periods of integration (depressing!). ...again, only for max
prisoners. The rest don't usually need as much security.

I wonder if the stories about TVs aren't myths to some
extent with regards to max. prisoners. I wonder if it
might be possible that the TV are in day rooms where most
of 'em don't get to watch? ...not that I think they need
TVs.

[MrLeRoy]

ping

[dirtboy]

can someone please tell me how prison rape is a federal matter?

[Enterprise]

Well, it is self-evident as to Federal prisons.

The rest is too complicated because it would involve explaining the Constitutional rights of prisoners. Those rights apply anywhere a person is in custody of a Governmental entity. And while the Government cannot guarantee the safety of persons in custody, it also cannot be negligent regarding that safety.

As an aside, I remember reading an article in which guards in some prisons were told not to interfere if prisoners were being gang raped. That would be an example of Government negligence to the max, and is a clear abdication of its responsibilies to enforce statutory law against rape.