42 U.S.C. § 15601 : US Code - Section 15601: Findings

Search 42 U.S.C. § 15601 : US Code - Section 15601: 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 the power of Congress under
Section Five of the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress may take
action to enforce those rights in States where officials have
demonstrated such indifference. States that do not take basic
steps to abate prison rape by adopting 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 the failure of
State officials to adopt policies and procedures 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.