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By Pat Nolan|Published Date: July 28, 2009
Several women who were raped while in prisons in Michigan won a huge victory with the state providing $100M to settle their claims. This settlement is not only a vindication for these women who were raped while in the custody of the government, but it is solid evidence that prison rape will no longer be tolerated.
This good news follows on the heels of last month’s historic release of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission (NPREC) report. The report, which culminates six years of work by the commission and its staff, leaves no doubt that prison rape is a significant problem in our prisons. According to a study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, at least 65,000 inmates are sexually assaulted in prisons each year.
I am proud to have served on the commission and can attest to the hard work of the commissioners and staff and their dedication to providing guidance to leaders in corrections on ways to prevent prison rape. The standards that accompany the report will hold prison officials accountable for combating prison rape and establish a zero tolerance policy regarding rape and sexual assault in our prisons.
Prison rape has long been a staple of jokes on late night TV, but otherwise it has been ignored as an unseemly but intractable problem of our prisons. When one Massachusetts prison official was asked what should be done to combat prison rape, he responded, “It’s prison. What can I say?”
All that changed when a broad coalition of civil rights and religious and political groups from the left and right joined together to press for the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Prison Fellowship took a lead role in pressing for this legislation, mobilizing our volunteers, lobbying members of Congress and calling the BreakPoint audience to action in support of the bill. The breadth of the coalition is evidenced by the Senators who joined together as chief sponsors—Ted Kennedy (D–Mass.) and Jeff Sessions (R–Ala.). They each took the position that it was immoral to allow people in government facilities to be sexually assaulted and raped.
The standards adopted by the NPREC must now be approved by Attorney General Eric Holder. I urge you to write to him at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001 and ask that he adopt the standards without any significant changes. Once approved by the Attorney General, the standards will immediately apply to federal prisons. The states must adopt them or face the loss of a portion of federal funds intended for prisons.
With the Michigan settlement and the commission’s report, it is obvious that a new day has come in the treatment of sexual crimes in prison. No crime, no matter how heinous, has a sentence that includes being raped. Faced with a horrible and scandalous situation in our prisons, the government has responded appropriately. That is something we can all be proud of.
Winston Churchill said, “The treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization of any country.” Until prisoners in the United States are safe from being raped, we will have failed this test of civilization.
To learn more about the fight against prison rape, visit the Justice Fellowship’s Resource page on Prison Rape.
In His service,
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