On the Prevention of Rape in Correctional Facilitiesposted by Mark Yarhouse
July 23, 2012
http://psychologyandchristianity.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/on-the-prevention-of-rape-in-correctional-facilities/In 2003, Congress enacted The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). PREA was enacted by Congress to address concerns about the sexual victimization and abuse of persons in U.S. correctional facilities.
Opposition seems to be framed around the following concerns:
(1) it reflects political correctness to attend to the concerns of sexual minorities;
(2) actions have consequences, so any inmate who is concerned about safety should have thought about before offending; and
(3) there are limited resources for attending to the inmates who have special needs or considerations.
I am particularly concerned that Christians not stand behind the first two objections...
...not all those who are in prison deserve to be in prison, and some groups are overrepresented in the prison population and that can reflect other injustices beyond the scope of this reflection. However, even in cases in which the person ought to be in prison, no one in prison deserves to be sexually assaulted. Being in prison was their sentence–not being raped.
There is no "us" and "them" in discussions of rape prevention in correctional settings, although there may be groups that are at greater risk than others...
Prison Rape Elimination ActJune 14, 2012
by Peter Curcio
http://lawenforcementtoday.com/2012/06/14/prison-rape-elimination-act/The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was enacted in 2003 to combat the often unspoken allegations and acts of sexual assault on inmates while incarcerated. The act signed into law by President George W. Bush called for tracking of specific sexual assault statistics by the DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics. This tracking provides for greater identification and subsequent accountability of national patterns and trends while making make prison administrators more accountable.
PREA also called for the creation of a committee to spearhead reviews and studies into the goal of eliminating rape and sexual assaults in prisons. The National Prison Rape Elimination Committee (NPREC) was founded in 2004. After several years of continuing research they published new provisions of the PREA act this May, which is a culmination of input from organizations across all spectrums of prisoners' rights.
Learn more here:
http://nicic.gov/prea
FINAL PREA STANDARDS RELEASED MAY 17, 2012
National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison RapeAGENCY: Department of Justice.
ACTION: Final rule; request for comment on specific issue.
SUMMARY: The Department of Justice (Department) is issuing a final rule adopting national standards to prevent, detect, and respond to prison rape, pursuant to the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA).
signed by the Attorney General on May 16, 2012; published in the Federal Eegister
Download the complete text of the Final Rule here:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/programs/pdfs/prea_final_rule.pdfIn addition, in a change from the proposed rule, the final standards do not allow placement of LGBTI inmates in dedicated facilities, units, or wings in adult prisons, jails, or community confinement facilities solely on the basis of such identification or status, unless such placement is in a dedicated facility, unit, or wing established in connection with a consent decree, legal settlement, or legal judgment for the purpose of protecting such inmates. As in the proposed standards, such placement is not allowed at all in juvenile facilities.
The standards impose a complete ban on searching or physically examining a transgender or intersex inmate for the sole purpose of determining the inmate's genital status. Agencies must train security staff in conducting professional and respectful cross-gender pat-down searches and searches of transgender and intersex inmates.
In deciding whether to assign a transgender or intersex inmate to a facility for male or female inmates, and in making other housing and programming assignments, an agency may not simply assign the inmate to a facility based on genital status. Rather, the agency must consider on a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate's health and safety, and whether the placement would present management or security problems, giving serious consideration to the inmate's own views regarding his or her own safety. In addition, transgender and intersex inmates must be given the opportunity to shower separately from other inmates.
