113 S657 IS: Foreign Prison Conditions Improvement Act of 2013
U.S. Senate
2013-03-22
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Foreign Prison Conditions Improvement
Act of 2013
.
2.Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)Millions of
incarcerated people in the world suffer inhumane conditions in prisons and
other detention facilities that are overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe to the
point of endangering their lives. Many governments do not respect the basic
right of all individuals in detention or incarceration to be treated with
humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
(2)Rates of
malnutrition and death among prisoners and other detainees far exceed those of
the general population, and medical treatment for serious illness or injury is,
in many instances, non-existent or grossly inadequate.
(3)Prisons are
extremely high-risk environments for transmitting diseases, particularly HIV
and tuberculosis, and create grave risks to communities in which released
prisoners live; studies estimate that HIV infection rates in prisons in
developing countries can be as much as 50 times higher than in the general
population, and tuberculosis infection rates in prisons are more than 20 times
higher than in the general population.
(4)These
conditions are compounded by severe overcrowding in prisons and other detention
facilities. Excessive pre-trial detention and dysfunctional justice systems
frequently result in prisoners and other detainees spending years in such
conditions before their cases are adjudicated. In some countries, such
facilities are filled to capacity many times over resulting in conditions so
cramped that individual prisoners cannot move without all doing so en
masse.
(5)Experts have
documented widespread inhumane prison conditions, including overcrowding,
inadequate food and water, no access to hygiene products or medical care,
juveniles detained with adults, and denial of visits from family.
(6)Some
governments fail to provide even the most rudimentary sanitation in prisons and
other detention facilities, putting prisoners and other detainees at even
greater risk of easily preventable and often life-threatening diseases. Toilets
are few or non-existent and human waste repositories often are located among
the general prison population, forcing prisoners to eat, sleep, and live in
grossly unsanitary conditions.
(7)Some
governments fail to permit prisoners and other detainees reasonable contact
with family members or other visitors. Many governments deny access to certain
prisoners and detainees, or do not provide information about their location,
health, and well-being, leaving them unaccounted for.
(8)Inhumane
conditions in prisons and other detention facilities often exist in countries
where resources for law enforcement are limited and only a small fraction of
such resources are made available for the operation and maintenance of prisons
and other detention facilities. Inadequate, misplaced, or lost records often
result in prisoners and other detainees being incarcerated indefinitely because
their cases have never been tried or otherwise adjudicated. In other cases,
poor recordkeeping results in prisoners and other detainees being held long
after their sentences have expired. Allocating the relatively modest resources
necessary to provide for the basic human needs of prisoners and other detainees
and to remediate the inhumane conditions under which such prisoners are held is
often a low priority.
(9)The United
States Government currently provides significant amounts of assistance to
countries whose governments operate prisons and other detention facilities
that, because of their inhumane conditions, seriously jeopardize the lives of
prisoners and other detainees held under their authority.
(10)The
Department of State's 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices reported
prison conditions as poor, inhumane, or life threatening in scores of
countries, all of which receive United States assistance.
(11)On February 14,
2012, a fire at the Comayagua Prison in Honduras killed 360 prisoners. United
States officials who investigated the fire attributed the deaths to severe
overcrowding and poor safety practices. In one overcrowded cell block, only 4
of 105 prisoners survived. More than half of the prisoners were pretrial
detainees who had never been convicted of any crime.
(12)In many
countries, United States citizens suffer serious harm and are at risk of death
and mistreatment from being held in prisons and other detention facilities
under inhumane conditions.
(13)The United
States Government should use its influence and resources to ensure that
governments that receive United States assistance do not operate prisons and
other detention facilities under inhumane conditions. The United States
Government also should assist countries to eliminate inhumane conditions in
prisons and other detention facilities.
(14)Eliminating
inhumane conditions in foreign prisons and other detention facilities will
strengthen the rule of law, save lives, and enhance the health and well-being
of vulnerable people in poor countries, and it will advance United States
interests.
3.In this Act:
(1)Appropriate
congressional committeesThe term appropriate congressional
committees means—
(A)the Committee
on Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
and
(B)the Committee
on Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives.
(2)Primary
indicators for the elimination of inhumane conditions in foreign prisons and
other detention facilitiesThe term primary indicators for
the elimination of inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention
facilities means, with respect to the operation or maintenance of
prisons and other detention facilities in a foreign country that is a recipient
of United States assistance, the following:
(A)The number of
inmates or detainees held in a facility does not so exceed prison capacity such
that per capita floor space is insufficient to allow for humane sleeping
conditions and reasonable physical movement.
(B)Human waste
facilities are sanitary and accessible, and human waste is disposed of
regularly and in a sanitary manner.
(C)The lighting,
ventilation, temperature, and physical construction of prisons and other
detention facilities do not seriously endanger the health and safety of
prisoners.
(D)Prisoners and
other detainees have access to adequate food and potable drinking water.
(E)Prisoners and
other detainees have access to essential and emergency medical care.
(F)To the
maximum extent practicable, prisoners and other detainees are allowed religious
observance and materials, and contact with clergy, family, and friends, by both
correspondence and personal visits.
(3)The term United States assistance
means any non-humanitarian assistance furnished to carry out the provisions of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), the Arms Export
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.), or the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003
(22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.).
4.Efforts to
help eliminate inhumane conditions in foreign prisons and other detention
facilities
(a)
(1)
(A)Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment
of this Act, and October 1 every other year thereafter for a six-year period,
the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees
a report describing the conditions in prisons and other detention facilities in
at least 30 countries receiving United States assistance or under sanction by
the United States selected as a result of the Secretary's determination that
such conditions raise the most serious human rights or humanitarian concerns.
In selecting such countries, the Secretary shall consider only the conditions
within each country's prisons and detention facilities.
(B)The
report required under subparagraph (A) shall, for each country, describe the
conditions that raise human rights and humanitarian concerns, including—
(i)a
detailed and up to date review, whenever possible, of each of the primary
indicators set forth in section 3(2) and noting any efforts made to eliminate
inhumane conditions as described in paragraph (2);
(ii)an
identification of those countries, if any, receiving United States assistance,
whose governments—
(I)do not meet
one or more of the primary indicators for the elimination of inhumane
conditions in prisons and other detention facilities but are making significant
efforts to comply; and
(II)do not meet
one or more of the primary indicators and are not making significant efforts to
comply; and
(iii)the steps being
taken by the United States Government to improve conditions in foreign prisons
and other detention facilities.
(C)The report shall also include a section on best
practices for achieving the primary indicators.
(2)In making determinations under paragraph (1)(A) as to
whether the government of a country is making significant efforts to comply
with the primary indicators for the elimination of inhumane conditions in
prisons and other detention facilities, the Secretary of State shall consider
the extent to which the government of the country is—
(A)regularly
monitoring the conditions of prisons and other detention facilities under its
authority, including allowing access for independent monitors, permitting
prisoners and other detainees to submit complaints without censorship,
cooperating with humanitarian organizations in eliminating and monitoring
inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention facilities, promptly
investigating credible allegations of inhumane conditions, and making
information concerning conditions and investigations available to the public
and the Secretary of State;
(B)taking
effective steps to eliminate inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention
facilities, which may include, among other steps, appointing ombudsmen to serve
on behalf of prisoners and other detainees, providing alternatives to
incarceration for nonviolent offenders in order to alleviate inhumane
overcrowding, addressing the status and circumstances of confinement of
juveniles, improving pretrial detention practices, and implementing bail and
recordkeeping procedures to reduce pretrial detention periods and to ensure
that prisoners do not serve beyond the maximum sentence for the charged
offense; and
(C)increasing
the amount of government resources to eliminate inhumane conditions in prisons
and other detention facilities.
(3)The report required under paragraph (1) may draw
from the discussion of prison conditions contained in the Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices required under sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d) and 2304(b)).
(4)The
report required under paragraph (1) shall be made available to the public,
including on a publicly available website of the Department of State.
(b)Assistance
for governments To eliminate inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention
facilities
(1)The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the
United States Agency for International Development should furnish assistance
for the purpose of eliminating inhumane conditions in prisons and other
detention facilities where such assistance would be appropriate and
beneficial.
(2)Inapplicability
of prohibitionThe prohibitions under section 660 of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2420) shall not be applicable to assistance
furnished to carry out the provisions of paragraph (1).
(3)Assistance
made available under this subsection shall be designated and used exclusively
to eliminate inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention facilities in
the country receiving the grant, but may not include the construction of new
prisons. Funds made available under this section shall be subject to the
regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations of the
Senate and the House of Representatives.
(c)Consultations
with governments not making significant efforts To eliminate inhumane
conditions in prisons and other detention facilities
(1)In
the case of a government of a country that is listed in the report submitted
under subsection (a)(1)(B)(ii)(II) as not making significant efforts to
eliminate inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention facilities, the
Secretary of State shall, not later than 90 days after the date such report is
submitted, enter into consultations with such government to achieve the
purposes of this Act.
(2)Actions
regarding United States assistance
(A)The Secretary of State and the Administrator of
the United States Agency for International Development may restructure,
reprogram, or reduce United States assistance for a government described in
paragraph (1) to achieve the purposes of this Act.
(B)If
assistance is provided to a country whose government is described in paragraph
(1), the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees within 30 days of the decision to provide such assistance a
report—
(i)explaining that
any government agency or facility to receive assistance has the independence
and commitment necessary to achieve the purposes of this Act;
(ii)detailing the
purposes for which such assistance will be provided;
(iii)describing the
United States interest in providing such assistance notwithstanding the failure
of the government to make significant efforts to eliminate inhumane conditions;
and
(iv)describing the
conditions in prisons and other detention facilities in such country unless
this information has already been included in the report required under section
4(a)(1).
(3)Not
later than 180 days after the beginning of consultations required under
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall brief the appropriate congressional
committees on the actions taken or agreed to be taken, if any, by the
government of that country that constitute significant efforts to eliminate
inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention facilities and the actions
taken, or that will be taken, by the United States pursuant to paragraph (2).
Such information shall also be included in the next report required under
subsection (a). If the Secretary determines that United States assistance to
such government should not be restructured, reprogrammed, or reduced, the
briefing and report shall contain an explanation for that decision.
5.Training for
foreign service officersSection 708 of the Foreign Service Act of
1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028) is amended by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
(d)The Secretary
of State, with the assistance of other relevant officials, shall establish as
part of the standard training provided for chiefs of mission, deputy chiefs of
mission, and other officers of the Service who are or will be involved in the
assessment of conditions in foreign prisons and other detention facilities or
the drafting of the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,
instruction on matters related to conditions in such prisons and other
detention facilities and the substance of the Foreign Prison Conditions Improvement Act of
2013.
.
6.Official to
monitor foreign prison conditionsThe Secretary of State shall designate,
within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, an official at a
minimum level of a Deputy Assistant Secretary who shall have responsibility for
implementing the provisions of this Act, which shall be a substantial part of
such official's responsibilities. The Secretary shall instruct relevant United
States officials abroad to assist such official in gathering information
regarding conditions in foreign prisons and other detention facilities and in
implementing the provisions of this Act.
7.For purposes of
this Act and any amendment made by this Act—
(1)the prohibitions
of section 104(f) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(f))
shall apply to all provisions of this Act and any amendment made by this Act
and shall not be construed to be altered by this Act; and
(2)the primary
indicators for the elimination of inhumane conditions in foreign prisons and
other detention facilities, as well as significant efforts and best practices
to achieve such indicators, shall not be determined based on the provision of
services for which funding is prohibited by section 104(f) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(f)).