On Rape, Prisons, and Eric Holder

Rape in prisons shouldn't be a cliche, a joke, and most of all, it shouldn't happen. That's the position that the government took in 2003 when the U.S. House and Senate unanimously approved the Prison Rape Elimination Act. This is the first time the federal government has ever taken action on prison rape. Amazing in itself, but, of course, the nuts-and-bolts is where we do and do not live up to our ideals. In my new article in The American Prospect, I respond to the Department of Justice's proposed federal standards to eliminate sexual assault in prisons. Here's how the piece opens:

Our country's, shoulder-shrugging acceptance of rape in prisons has made it to the U.S. Department of Justice. Last week, the public comment period on new federal standards to eliminate sexual assault in prisons closed. The standards, released by the DOJ in February, fall far short of the tools needed to confront the pervasive problem.

The standards were adapted from those recommended by National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, but the DOJ is set to implement a diluted version. Specifically, Attorney General Eric Holder's counter-proposal to the Commission's recommendations doesn't cover immigration facilities and puts tight restrictions on inmates who report rape. Most strikingly, it eliminates the requirement that prisons actually enforce the standards; they're only required to have a plan to eliminate rape. And if they don't implement their plan? They will only be required to initiate another plan.

Comments

[Andy]

I think this points to our present budget debates, too: as a group a mainstream and integral to our society as teachers are villainized, people who truly need our attention and support are pushed even farther down in the pile and the separation between haves and have-nots gets even greater. Our society suffers at the hands of the greedy.

[Anna Clark]

The connection to teachers is an interesting one, Andy. Particularly because I think criticism of teachers and of inmates often hits the same note: that they are getting a 'free ride' at the hands of taxpayers. Also, schools are often described as being prison-like, what with metal detectors and teachers primarily charged with keeping people well-behaved, quiet, and enclosed in a particular space.

Also, funny you mention the demonization of teachers when the current cover story of the same magazine, The American Prospect, deals with a lot of that directly. "The Test Generation" by Dana Goldstein - here's the link: http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_test_generation