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108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1765
To provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape
in Federal, State, and local institutions and to provide information,
resources, recommendations, and funding to protect individuals from
prison rape.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 10, 2003
Mr. Wolf (for himself and Mr. Scott of Virginia) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape
in Federal, State, and local institutions and to provide information,
resources, recommendations, and funding to protect individuals from
prison rape.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Prison Rape
Reduction Act of 2003''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Purposes.
Sec. 4. National prison rape statistics, data, and research.
Sec. 5. Prison rape prevention and prosecution.
Sec. 6. Prison rape prevention and prosecution grants.
Sec. 7. National Prison Rape Reduction Commission.
Sec. 8. Adoption and effect of national standards.
Sec. 9. Model standards for acute post-trauma treatment.
Sec. 10. Requirement that accreditation organizations adopt
accreditation standards.
Sec. 11. Designation of grant programs for funding increases;
adjustments to increases.
Sec. 12. Definitions.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) 2,100,146 persons were incarcerated in the United
States at the end of 2001: 1,324,465 in Federal and State
Prisons and 631,240 in county and local jails. In 1999, there
were more than 10,000,000 separate admissions to and discharges
from prisons and jails.
(2) Insufficient research has been conducted and
insufficient data reported on the extent of prison rape.
However, experts have conservatively estimated that at least 13
percent of the inmates in the United States have been sexually
assaulted in prison. Many inmates have suffered repeated
assaults. Under this estimate, nearly 200,000 inmates now
incarcerated have been or will be the victims of prison rape.
The total number of inmates who have been sexually assaulted in
the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000.
(3) Inmates with mental illness are at increased risk of
sexual victimization. America's jails and prisons house more
mentally ill individuals than all of the Nation's psychiatric
hospitals combined. As many as 16 percent of inmates in state
prisons and jails, and 7 percent of Federal inmates, suffer
from mental illness.
(4) Young first-time offenders are at increased risk of
sexual victimization. Juveniles are 5 times more likely to be
sexually assaulted in adult rather than juvenile facilities--
often within the first 48 hours of incarceration.
(5) Most prison staff are not adequately trained or
prepared to prevent, report, or treat inmate sexual assaults.
(6) Prison rape often goes unreported, and inmate victims
often receive inadequate treatment for the severe physical and
psychological effects of sexual assault--if they receive
treatment at all.
(7) HIV and AIDS are major public health problems within
America's correctional facilities. In 2000, 25,088 inmates in
Federal and State prisons were known to be infected with HIV/
AIDS. In 2000, HIV/AIDS accounted for more than 6 percent of
all deaths in Federal and State prisons. Infection rates for
other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, and
hepatitis B and C are also far greater for prisoners than for
the American population as a whole. Prison rape undermines the
public health by contributing to the spread of these diseases,
and often giving a potential death sentence to its victims.
(8) Prison rape endangers the public safety by making
brutalized inmates more likely to commit crimes when they are
released--as 600,000 inmates are each year.
(9) The frequently interracial character of prison sexual
assaults significantly exacerbates interracial tensions, both
within prison and, upon release of perpetrators and victims
from prison, in the community at large.
(10) Prison rape increases the level of homicides and other
violence against inmates and staff, and the risk of
insurrections and riots.
(11) Victims of prison rape suffer severe physical and
psychological effects that hinder their ability to integrate
into the community and maintain stable employment upon their
release from prison. They are thus more likely to become
homeless and/or require government assistance.
(12) Members of the public and government officials are
largely unaware of the epidemic character of prison rape and
the day-to-day horror experienced by victimized inmates.
(13) The high incidence of sexual assault within prisons
involves actual and potential violations of the United States
Constitution. In Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994), the
Supreme Court ruled that deliberate indifference to the
substantial risk of sexual assault violates prisoners' rights
under the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth
Amendment. The Eighth Amendment rights of State and local
prisoners are protected through the Due Process Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment. Pursuant to Congress's power under
Section Five of the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress may take
action to enforce those rights in States where officials have
demonstrated such indifference. States in which the incidence
of prison rape exceeds the median by 30 percent whose officials
refuse to explain their policies and practices regarding sexual
assault and States that do not adopt carefully selected grant
performance standards that do not generate significant
additional expenditures demonstrate such indifference.
Therefore, such States are not entitled to the same level of
Federal benefits as other States.
(14) The high incidence of prison rape undermines the
effectiveness and efficiency of United States Government
expenditures through grant programs such as those dealing with
health care; mental health care; disease prevention; crime
prevention, investigation, and prosecution; prison
construction, maintenance, and operation; race relations;
poverty; unemployment and homelessness. The effectiveness and
efficiency of these Federally funded grant programs are
compromised by officials' failure to adopt policies and
procedure that reduce the incidence of prison rape in that the
high incidence of prison rape--
(A) increases the costs incurred by Federal, State,
and local jurisdictions to administer their prison
systems;
(B) increases the levels of violence, directed at
inmates and at staff, within prisons;
(C) increases health care expenditures, both inside
and outside of prison systems, and reduces the
effectiveness of disease prevention programs by
substantially increasing the incidence and spread of
HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, and other
diseases;
(D) increases mental health care expenditures, both
inside and outside of prison systems, by substantially
increasing the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder,
depression, suicide, and the exacerbation of existing
mental illnesses among current and former inmates;
(E) increases the risks of recidivism, civil
strife, and violent crime by individuals who have been
brutalized by prison rape; and
(F) increases the level of interracial tensions and
strife within prisons and, upon release of perpetrators
and victims, in the community at large.
(15) The high incidence of prison rape has a significant
effect on interstate commerce because it increases
substantially--
(A) the costs incurred by Federal, State, and local
jurisdictions to administer their prison systems;
(B) the incidence and spread of HIV, AIDS,
tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, and other diseases,
contributing to increased health and medical
expenditures throughout the Nation;
(C) the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder,
depression, suicide, and the exacerbation of existing
mental illnesses among current and former inmates,
contributing to increased health and medical
expenditures throughout the Nation; and
(D) the risk of recidivism, civil strife, and
violent crime by individuals who have been brutalized
by prison rape.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are to--
(1) establish a zero-tolerance standard for the incidence
of prison rape in prisons in the United States;
(2) make the prevention of prison rape a top priority in
each prison system;
(3) develop and implement national standards for the
detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment of prison
rape;
(4) increase the available data and information on the
incidence of prison rape, consequently improving the management
and administration of correctional facilities;
(5) standardize the definitions used for collecting data on
the incidence of prison rape;
(6) increase the accountability of prison officials who
fail to detect, prevent, reduce, and punish prison rape.
(7) protect the Eighth Amendment rights of Federal, State,
and local prisoners;
(8) increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Federal
expenditures through grant programs such as those dealing with
health care; mental health care; disease prevention; crime
prevention, investigation, and prosecution; prison
construction, maintenance, and operation; race relations;
poverty; unemployment; and homelessness; and
(9) reduce the costs that prison rape imposes on interstate
commerce.
SEC. 4. NATIONAL PRISON RAPE STATISTICS, DATA, AND RESEARCH.
(a) Annual Comprehensive Statistical Review.--
(1) In general.--The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the
Department of Justice (in this section referred to as the
``Bureau'') shall carry out, for each calendar year, a
comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence
and effects of prison rape. The statistical review and analysis
shall include, but not be limited to the identification of the common
characteristics of--
(A) both victims and perpetrators of prison rape;
and
(B) prisons and prison systems with a high
incidence of prison rape.
(2) Sampling techniques.--The analysis under paragraph (1)
shall be based on a random sample, or other scientifically
appropriate sample, of not less than 10 percent of all Federal,
State, and county prisons, and a representative sample of
municipal prisons. The selection shall include at least one
prison from each State. The selection of facilities for
sampling shall be made at the latest practicable date prior to
conducting the surveys and shall not be disclosed to any
facility or prison system official prior to the time period
studied in the survey. Selection of a facility for sampling
during any year shall not preclude its selection for sampling
in any subsequent year.
(3) Surveys.--In carrying out the review required by this
subsection, the Bureau shall, in addition to such other methods
as the Bureau considers appropriate, use surveys and other
statistical studies of current and former inmates from a sample
of Federal, State, county, and municipal prisons. The Bureau
shall ensure the confidentiality of each survey participant.
(4) Failure to participate.--If, after receiving a request
from the Bureau under subparagraph (a)(2), a State of local
official or facility administrator declines to participate in
the national survey or prohibits access to any inmates under
their legal custody, the entity represented by that official,
or any jurisdiction to which the facility is subject, shall not
be entitled in any funding increases under section 4,
subsections (b)(3)(C) or (f).
(b) Review Panel on Prison Rape.--
(1) Establishment.--To assist the Bureau in carrying out
the review and analysis under subsection (a), there is
established, within the Bureau, the Review Panel on Prison Rape
(in this section referred to as the ``Panel'').
(2) Membership.--
(A) Composition.--The Panel shall be composed of 3
members, each of whom shall be appointed by the
Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of
Health and Human Services.
(B) Qualifications.--Members of the Panel shall be
selected from among individuals with knowledge or
expertise in matters to be studied by the Panel.
(3) Public hearings.--
(A) In general.--The duty of the Panel shall be to
carry out, for each calendar year, public hearings
concerning the operation of each entity identified in a
report under clause (ii) or (iii) of subsection
(c)(2)(B). The purpose of these hearings shall be to
collect evidence to aid in the identification of common
characteristics of both victims and perpetrators of
prison rape, and the identification of common
characteristics of prisons and prison systems with a
high incidence of prison rape.
(B) Testimony at hearings.--
(i) Public officials.--In carrying out the
hearings required under subparagraph (A), the
Panel shall request the public testimony of
Federal, State, and local officials (and
organizations that represent such officials),
including the warden or director of each prison
and the head of the prison system encompassing
such prison, who bear responsibility for the
prevention, detection, and punishment of prison
rape at each entity.
(ii) Victims.--The Panel may request the
testimony of prison rape victims, organizations
representing such victims, and other
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