[Senate Hearing 107-937]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 107-937
THE PRISON RAPE REDUCTION ACT OF 2002
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 31, 2002
__________
Serial No. J-107-99
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
87-677 WASHINGTON : 2003
____________________________________________________________________________
For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512-1800
Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware STROM THURMOND, South Carolina
HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin JON KYL, Arizona
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York MIKE DeWINE, Ohio
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
Bruce A. Cohen, Majority Chief Counsel and Staff Director
Sharon Prost, Minority Chief Counsel
Makan Delrahim, Minority Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
----------
STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., a U.S. Senator from the State of
Massachusetts.................................................. 1
prepared statement........................................... 67
Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from the State of Utah,
prepared statement............................................. 61
Sessions, Hon. Jeff, a U.S. Senator from the State of Alabama.... 6
WITNESSES
Bruntmyer, Linda, Amarillo, Texas................................ 8
Dumond, Robert W., Clinical Mental Health Counselor, and Member,
Board of Advisors, Stop Prisoner Rape, Hudson, New Hampshire... 13
Earley, Mark, President, Prison Fellowship Ministries, Reston,
Virginia....................................................... 9
Saperstein, Rabbi David, Director, Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism, Washington, D.C................................ 11
Wolf, Hon. Frank R., a Representative in Congress from the State
of Virginia.................................................... 2
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
American Civil Liberties Union, Rachel King, Legislative Counsel,
Washington National Office, and Elizabeth Alexander, Director,
National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union,
statement and attachments...................................... 24
Bruntmyer, Linda, Amarillo, Texas, prepared statement............ 30
Dumond, Robert W., Clinical Mental Health Counselor, and Member,
Board of Advisors, Stop Prisoner Rape, Hudson, New Hampshire,
prepared statement and attachment.............................. 34
Eagle Group, Frank A. Hall, Managing Director, Washington, D.C.,
letter......................................................... 53
Earley, Mark, President, Prison Fellowship Ministries, Reston,
Virginia, prepared statement................................... 55
Human Rights Watch, Wendy Patten, U.S. Advocacy Director,
Washington, D.C., prepared statement........................... 63
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
Hilary Shelton, Director, Washington, D.C., prepared statement. 69
National Association of Evangelicals, Richard C. Cizik, Vice
President, Government Affairs, Washington, D.C., letter........ 72
National Commission on Correctional Health Care, Edward Harrison,
President, Chicago, Illinois, prepared statement............... 73
Pryor, Bill, Attorney General of Alabama, prepared statement..... 76
Salvation Army, George E. Hood, Major, National Director of
Public Affairs, letter......................................... 78
Saperstein, Rabbi David, Director, Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism, Washington, D.C., prepared statement........... 79
Southern Baptist Convention, Shannon Royce, Director of
Government Relations and Counsel, Washington, D.C., letter..... 82
Struckman-Johnson, Cindy, Professor of Psychology, University of
South Dakota, prepared statement and attachment................ 83
Wolf, Hon. Frank R., a Representative in Congress from the State
of Virginia, prepared statement................................ 86
THE PRISON RAPE REDUCTION ACT OF 2002
----------
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2002
United States Senate,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, D.C.
The Committee met, Pursuant to notice, at 1:34 p.m., in
room SD-226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Edward M.
Kennedy, presiding.
Present: Senators Kennedy and Sessions.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD M. KENNEDY, A U.S. SENATOR
FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS
Senator Kennedy. We will come to order. Today, the
Judiciary Committee considers a serious problem in prisons,
jails, and detention centers.
In 1994, the Supreme Court ruled that, ``Being violently
assaulted in prison is simply not part of the penalty that
criminal offenders pay for their offenses against society.''
Nevertheless, we know that hundreds of thousands of inmates
across the nation, not only convicted prisoners, but pre-trial
detainees and immigration detainees, as well, are victims of
sexual assault each year.
Prison rape has devastating physical and psychological
effects on its victims. It also has serious consequences for
communities. Six-hundred-thousand inmates are released from
prison or detention every year, and their brutalization
increases the likelihood that they will commit new crimes after
they are released.
Infection rates for HIV, other sexually transmitted
diseases, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C are 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 gives a potential death sentence to
its victims.
It is long past time to address this epidemic. Last month,
Senator Sessions and I proposed the Prison Rape Reduction Act,
a bipartisan bill to deal with the problem of prison rape while
still respecting the primary role of States and local
governments in administering prisons and jails.
Our bill asks the Department of Justice to conduct an
annual statistical review of prison rape to identify
institutions with high incidence of rape. It authorizes $40
million a year in grants to strengthen the ability of State and
local officials to prevent these abuses. It establishes a
commission to conduct hearings over 2 years and recommend
national standards on a wide range of issues, including inmate
classification, investigation of rape complaints, trauma care
for rape victims, disease prevention, and staff training.
An extraordinary coalition of churches, civil rights
groups, and concerned individuals have joined together to act
on this issue. It is not a liberal issue or a conservative
issue. It is an issue of basic decency and human rights. I
commend this coalition for its impressive moral leadership and
I thank Chairman Leahy for the opportunity to hold this
hearing.
In the House of Representatives, our legislation is
sponsored by two human rights leaders, Congressman Frank Wolf
and Congressman Bobby Scott. We are privileged to have
Congressman Wolf here today. With its growing support in
Congress and the broad coalition of other supporters, we hope
that this bill can be signed into law this year, and I thank
all the witnesses for being with us and look forward to their
testimony.
I particularly want to recognize a constituent of ours,
John Caneb from Massachusetts, who is in the audience and has
been very much involved in this issue and commend him for his
great interest in this and all of the help he has been in terms
of moving this process forward.
[The prepared statement of Senator Kennedy appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Kennedy. We are fortunate this afternoon to have
some really outstanding witnesses. Our first is a very special
one, Congressman Frank Wolf. Few Members of Congress can claim
a list of accomplishments comparable to Frank Wolf's. In his 22
years as a Representative of Virginia's Tenth Congressional
District, Congressman Wolf has been a leader in developing mass
transportation, promoting family-friendly workplaces for
Federal employees, and drawing attention to the harmful effects
of legalized gambling.
As Chairman of the House Commerce, Justice, State, and
Judiciary Appropriations Committee, he is also one of the
strongest voices in Congress for human rights. He is Co-
Chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, a member of
the U.S. Helsinki Commission. He has worked to improve human
rights and basic living conditions for refugees around the
world. He is the lead sponsor of the Prison Rape Reduction Act
in the House, along with Congressman Bobby Scott. We are
honored to have him before our committee today.
Thank you very much, Congressman, for being here and for
the good work that you do on this legislation and so many other
pieces of legislation, as well.
STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK R. WOLF, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS
FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA
Representative Wolf. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for
your comments. I appreciate your holding these hearings,
particularly in the last week the Senate is in session, knowing
how busy everything is. So it is a tribute to you that you have
taken the time and I want to thank you.
I appreciate you giving me this opportunity to be here
today to testify on a vitally important issue to the nation's
prison system, the ongoing problem of prison rape.
I also want to acknowledge the efforts, and I am speaking
for my Virginia colleague, Bobby Scott, who could not be here
today but whose efforts, along with yours and Senator
Sessions', make this issue truly bipartisan. This legislation,
the Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002, will go a long way in
addressing a problem that has too long been quietly swept under
the rug.
I also want to thank the many groups that support this
legislation, including Prison Fellowship, its President Chuck
Colson, and Mark Earley, and NAACP, the Family Research
Council, La Raza, the Human Rights Watch, Salvation Army, Rabbi
Saperstein, and many others. With this broad array of support,
I am hopeful, somehow, we can have this legislation passed
before the end of this Congress. I also want to recognize the
efforts of Michael Horowitz, who has spearheaded this entire
effort and whose tireless dedication on this and other issues
really deserves special recognition.
Prison rape, to be sure, is not a dinner conversation
issue. For years, no one--no one--has talked about it, much
less acted on it. But as you know, Mr. Chairman, you and
Senator Sessions, this issue is one of compassion and the broad
base of support it has shows that it transcends one's political
affiliation. Society, hopefully, is finally coming to grips
with this vile act.
Of the two million prisoners in the U.S., a conservative
estimate is one in ten--one in ten, and if you looked at the
figures coming out today of the Department of Justice, the
prison population is still increasing--but one in ten have been
raped. A 1996 study of the Nebraska prison system reported that
22 percent--22 percent--of male inmates had been pressured or
forced to have sex against their will while incarceration, and
over these, half submitted to forced sex at least once. Other
reports and investigations have all demonstrated that there is
a shockingly high rate of sexual abuse in U.S. prisons.
Prison rape, like all other forms of sexual assault, is
torture, the infliction of severe emotional and physical pain
as punishment and coercion. Long after the body has healed, the
emotional state remains traumatized and shamed. The individual
is stigmatized, stigmatized in the prison and sometimes
stigmatized outside.
As you said, Senator, the Supreme Court has made it clear.
``Being violently assaulted in prison is simply not part of the
penalty that criminal offenders pay for their offenses against
society.'' Deliberate indifference, and that is what we have
had, deliberate indifference to prison rape violates the Eighth
Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
This is not just a matter of protecting inmates. Society
also pays dearly for ignoring prison rape. All major studies
show that prison rape costs the taxpayer in recidivism and
increased violent crimes. Inmates, often non-violent first-time
offenders, will come out of a prison rape experience severely
traumatized and will often leave prison more violent than when
they entered. Finally, the high incidence of rape within prison
leads to the increased transmission of HIV, hepatitis, and
other diseases, which society will have to pay for.
While these policy realities of prison rape seem clear, to
view this issue from the perspective of an individual inmate--
and that is how you have to view it, from an inmate's position
and they are where they are and what they are at that time--is
necessary to understand the true nature of this abhorrent act.
Rape may be the ultimate humiliation, with very serious and
long-lasting psychic damage to the victim, as well as to close
loved ones who are secondary victims.
Prison rape receives virtually no attention, no attention
by the media. Where has the media been? You almost never ever
see an article in the major media outlet with regard to the
issue of prison rape. The politicians have been quiet, and the
public at large has been quiet on the issue also.
What actually happens to the victim of prison rape, prison
rape survivors become rapists themselves in a demented attempt
to regain what they think of as their ``lost manhood.'' Some
prison rape victims retaliate by murdering their rapist,
receiving added years to the sentence. Another outcome of
prison rape is suicide. Researchers have found that suicide is
the leading cause of death behind bars and sexual harassment is
the leading cause of prisoner suicide.
No matter where the survivor ends up, severe psychosis is
the most common outcome of prisoner rape. Sexual assault can
often break a prisoner's spirit. In the advanced stages of
rape, trauma syndrome, a survivor's mood often swings between
deep depression and rage. Prisoner rape may be the quickest,
the most cost-effective way of producing a sociopath. According
to researchers, the fact that most men on death row were
sexually abused earlier in life should come as no surprise.
Indeed, it is a fact that society ignores at its own peril.
In April of 2001, the group Human Rights Watch published a
report entitled ``No Escape'' that was a comprehensive
investigation into the prison rape epidemic. Human Rights Watch
deserves to be commended for this effort and I think that
Members of Congress concerned about this prison system should
read this report.
The report shows that many of the inmates that are victims
of rape were young and were often placed in prisons as non-
violent offenders. Also, many were scheduled for short
sentences and would soon be returning to society.
The report also published some of the actual letters
written by inmate victims of prison rape. For example, an
inmate in Florida writes the following. He says, ``I was young,
and yes, I was weak. My weight was only 120 pounds. The first
few months I was raped and beat up many times. I would always
fight back. I wanted my attackers to know that I was not a
willing subject for their evilness. I went to the guards for
help and was told there was nothing that could be done, that I
would have to stand up like a man and take care of my own
troubles.''
I have attached excerpts from other letters, and last night
in preparing for this testimony, I went back and read some of
the letters. I did not want to read them out loud. But I think
anybody who has anything to do in the prison system ought to
read these letters. They are painful. They are just
unbelievable, and when you think that you are in an institution
run by the government where you would see the guards that you
could think that you could go to--when we have a problem, we
see a police officer, we go to him, and here the guards
sometimes are telling you that there is nothing they can do.
The letters will be put in the record. Everyone ought to
read these letters and then imagine, what if this was somebody
in my family? What if this were a relative? What if this were
the next-door neighbor? What if this were somebody on my staff?
What if this were somebody who was picked up for some minor
crime? The letters are actually brutal and I think they ought
to be forced reading for anybody in the criminal justice
system.
Mr. Chairman, in closing, we are learning more stories of
prison rape. These accounts have only recently been catalogued,
as often inmates have been afraid to speak out for years.
Throughout my career, I have long believed that criminals
deserve tough sentences, and I still believe that being tough
on criminals serves to protect our larger society.
But ignoring prison rape has nothing to do with being tough
on criminals. Deliberate indifference will only serve to
undermine the entire criminal justice system. A man who is
sentenced to time should serve that time, but he is not
sentenced to being raped and possibly contacting HIV.
I am hopeful and believe, particularly with this hearing,
this legislation will provide a chance to gain a full picture
of how widespread the abuse is and offer incentives for
correctional facilities to finally address it. For too long, it
has been ignored, and with this hearing, that has come to an
end.
I appreciate your leadership and that of Senator Sessions
and the hearing, which will give us a record that maybe perhaps
we could take this, if we run out of time, and just stuff it on
some appropriations bill somewhere whereby it becomes law so we
can really do something to make a difference.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I thank you very much.
Senator Kennedy. We know who will be stuffing it on some
appropriations bill.
[Laughter.]
Senator Kennedy. That is powerful testimony, Congressman.
Just very quickly, you have covered the ground, but I would
like to hear again about why people should be concerned about
what is happening. There are so many reasons why this demands
attention and demands our focus and assistance in trying to
make an impact on this conduct. You have already thought about
this from so many different dimensions. Why should people
outside the prisons be concerned about it?
You have illustrated some of the reasons, but if we are
interested in having a peaceful society and having communities
free from violence and stress, to the extent that that can be
the case, why is it important that we support and give
attention to this problem? Why should the average person be
concerned about this? If we do not do it, what are their risks,
and if we take some steps, what are their advantages?
Representative Wolf. I think when you incarcerate someone,
you cannot just put them away with the idea they are in a
warehouse. I think you have to treat them with compassion, give
them education, training, and this is a situation whereby they
actually come out more violent. When you read the letters, as I
am sure you will, you will see that you are actually turning
these people into violent people when they come out.
Years ago, before I was elected to Congress, I was involved
in a program with former Redskin player Charlie Harraway. We
would go down to Lorton. It was called ``Man to Man.'' It was a
Christian program and you would counsel the prisoners.
Sometimes a prison would tell you--in Lorton, they were living
mainly on a dormitory basis. Violent criminals in a dormitory
basis--a prison that was built in the old days, they thought
was a good way to do it, really was not working. The prisoner
would say, ``I can never really completely sleep. I literally
have to half stay awake because I am not sure what is going to
happen to me in the middle of the night. Somebody is going to
come and attack me. Somebody is going to put a shiv in me. A
gang will grab me.'' It is the fear that they have.
So I think society has an obligation and a burden, but also
with regard to a duty to see that these prisoners are treated
fairly serving their time so when they do come out, you do not
have more HIV and you also do not have sociopathic people
coming out who want to take this out on society.
So I think it is just the right thing to do, but I think
society benefits by treating people with compassion and
treating them well.
Senator Kennedy. That is, I think, an excellent comment and
statement and absolutely an accurate one.
I recognize Senator Sessions for any questions.
STATEMENT OF HON. JEFF SESSIONS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE
OF ALABAMA
Senator Sessions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for
your leadership on this important issue. I am pleased to join
with you on it, and Congressman Wolf, it is great to have your
leadership in the House and that of Congressman Scott.
I was a Federal prosecutor for a long time and talked to a
lot of mothers. I had a policy that I would talk to anybody
about a case that was coming through my office, and frequently
would have very, very painful discussions with mothers and
family when their members would be sent off to the
penitentiary. It is tough enough to go to jail. We ought not to
have any doubts that these people who are being punished for
violation of our law are being subjected to sexual abuse in the
process. I do not think we can defend that. That is not
justifiable.
I hope and pray the numbers that we have been hearing are
exaggerated, but I have no doubt that too much of it is going
on. I believe our legislation, Mr. Chairman, will help us tell
the public and to family members of people who are going to
jail that we are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior.
We are going to put a stop to it if there is any way possible.
Of course, prisons are dangerous places. They are populated
with a number of people, not all, but a number of them that are
quite dangerous and perfection is not possible, but we can do
better, a lot better, I am convinced, and I appreciate both of
your leadership on this question. It is not just legal or
political, it is a moral question. I believe that we are on the
right road to dealing with it.
I was pleased that my Attorney General, Bill Pryor, who is
a strong believer in the legal systems and independence of
States, believes that this is appropriate legislation and
supports it. I noticed recently the Southern Baptist Convention
has come forward with an endorsement of the legislation. That
goes in addition to the many, many others that have already
been received, I think.
So I feel good about where we are and I look forward to
working with you. Thank you.
Representative Wolf. Thank you very much.
Senator Kennedy. Let me, if I could, Congressman, you have
visited a lot of prisons in other parts of the world. Do you
think this is something that is endemic in prisons? Where do we
come out on all of this? Are we better? Are we worse? There is
a general sense that we have got a great deal to do.
Representative Wolf. I do not know, Senator. It is not an
issue--I have been in prisons in other countries. It is really
not an issue you can really raise with a man, so I do not
really know the answer. Perhaps the Prison Fellowship people or
some of the other groups would know.
Senator Kennedy. If it is bad in other countries, it does
not help us and should not give us any satisfaction. We have an
enormous challenge, an incredible problem, one that has not
gotten the focus and attention that it should have for all the
excellent reasons that you and Senator Sessions have pointed
out, so we thank you so much for being here. We want to
continue to work very closely with you.
Representative Wolf. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Kennedy. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Wolf appears as a submission
for the record.]
Senator Kennedy. We have a very excellent panel. I will ask
them if they would come forward when I introduce them.
Linda Bruntmyer is a resident of Amarillo, Texas. She has
suffered a devastating loss and demonstrated extraordinary
courage in telling her story so that future tragedies can be
avoided. Film maker Gabriel London has featured her in his
documentary, ``No Escape: Prison Rape in America.''
Mark Earley is making the transition from politics to the
ministry. He was a member of the Virginia State Senate from
1987 to 1997 and was the Virginia Attorney General from 1997 to
2001. Mr. Earley recently became President of the Prison
Fellowship Ministries, a nonprofit ministry that provides
support and spiritual guidance to thousands of prisoners, ex-
prisoners, victims, and their families. Chuck Colson, the
founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, has spoken eloquently
against prison rape and Mark Earley is continuing his record of
service and moral leadership.
Robert Dumond is a clinical mental health counselor in
Hudson, New Hampshire. For over 30 years, he has provided
services to crime victims and offenders. He served as Director
of Mental Health for the Massachusetts Department of
Corrections. He developed the first curriculum for rape
awareness training. He has researched, written, and lectured
extensively on the subject of sexual assault and serves on the
New Hampshire Department of Corrections Citizens Advisory Board
Committee and on the Board of Advisors for the Organization to
Stop Prisoner Rape. We are delighted to have him here.
And an old friend, Rabbi David Saperstein, is our final
witness. He is well known to everyone here. For 25 years, he
has been the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism. Rabbi Saperstein has been a strong advocate for human
rights, civil rights, and social justice. He has written
several books, led religious coalitions, and serves on the
board of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights of the
NAACP. In 1999, he was selected as the first Chair of the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom. Rabbi Saperstein
also teaches First Amendment and Jewish law at Georgetown
University Law Center. We welcome you.
I think each of our witnesses has a unique insight into the
problem of prison rape and I thank them all for being here. We
look forward to their testimony.
We will start with you, Ms. Bruntmyer.
STATEMENT OF LINDA BRUNTMYER, AMARILLO, TEXAS
Ms. Bruntmyer. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to
testify. My name is Linda Bruntmyer and I am here today to tell
you about my son, Rodney Hulin.
When Rodney was 16, he and his brother set a dumpster on
fire in the alley of our neighborhood. The authorities decided
to make an example of Rodney. Even though only $500 in damage
was caused by the fire, they sentenced him to 8 years in an
adult prison.
We were frightened for him from the start. At age 16,
Rodney was a small guy, only five-foot-two and about 125
pounds. And as a first offender, we knew he would be targeted
by tough, older, adult inmates.
Then our worst nightmare came true. Rodney wrote us a
letter telling us he had been raped. A medical examiner had
confirmed the rape. The doctor found tears in his rectum and
ordered an HIV test, because, he told us, one-third of the
prisoners there are HIV positive.
Only that was the beginning. Rodney knew if he went back
into the general population, he would be in danger. He wrote to
the authorities, requesting to be moved to a safer place. He
went through all the proper channels, but he was denied.
After the first rape, he returned to the general
population. There, he was repeatedly beaten and forced to
perform oral sex and raped. He wrote for help again. In the
grievance letter, he wrote, ``I have been sexually and
physically assaulted several times, by several inmates. I am
afraid to go to sleep, to shower, and just about anything else.
I am afraid that when I am doing these things, I would die at
any minute. Please, sir, help me.''
Still, officials told him that he did not meet the
emergency criteria. We all tried to get him to a safe place. I
called the warden, trying to figure out what was going on. He
said, ``Rodney needs to grow up.'' He said, ``This happens
every day. Learn to deal with it. It is no big deal.''
We were despaired. Rodney started to violate the rules so
that he would be put in segregation. After he was finally put
into segregation, we had about a 10-minute phone conversation.
He was crying. He said, ``Mom, I am emotionally and mentally
destroyed.''
That was the last time I heard my son's voice. On the night
of January 26, 1996, my son hung himself in his cell. He was 17
and afraid and ashamed and hopeless. He laid in a coma for the
next 4 months before he died.
Sadly, I know that Rodney is not alone. The human rights
group Stop Prisoner Rape gets calls and letters every day from
men and women who are asking for help, to help them move to a
safer place, asking them to help protect their loved ones who
are being raped, asking them to help because there was no one
in authority that would step in and say, no, this is not
justice. This is not right.
I support this legislation because I know it would stop
prisons from ignoring pleas for help from people like my son.
We know that what happened to Rodney could have been prevented.
There are ways to protect the vulnerable inmates and ways to
respond to the needs of prisoners who have been sexually
assaulted. Even so, vulnerable prisoners are being sexually
abused across this country every day. Rodney tried to ask for
help. I tried, too. But nothing was done.
I am asking, please, sir, please support this legislation.
It is urgently, desperately needed. Rape in prison should no
longer be tolerated. It destroys human dignity. It spreads
diseases. It makes people more angry and violent. It kills. It
is not what we mean when we say justice. Rape should not be
considered a part of a punishment. Rape is always a crime.
Senator Kennedy. Thank you very much, Linda.
Ms. Bruntmyer. Thank you.
Senator Kennedy. We know that this is a horrific incident
and we know that it is enormously difficult for you to be able
to relive that time, so we are very, very appreciative of the
fact that you are willing to come here and tell us about it. It
is very helpful to us. The best way that we can try and thank
you for it is to do something, and we will. Thank you very
much, though.
Ms. Bruntmyer. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Bruntmyer appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Kennedy. Mr. Earley, thank you very much. We look
forward to your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MARK EARLEY, PRESIDENT, PRISON FELLOWSHIP
MINISTRIES, RESTON, VIRGINIA
Mr. Earley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Sessions.
Thank you all very much for holding this hearing. I
particularly want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Sessions,
Congressman Wolf, and Congressman Scott, for your leadership in
supporting this legislation.
My name is Mark Earley. I am currently the President of
Prison Fellowship Ministries. Prior to that, I served for the
last 4 years as Attorney General of Virginia.
Many of you know Prison Fellowship was founded in 1976 by
Chuck Colson. It is today the largest prison outreach and
criminal justice reform organization in the world, in all 50
States and 95 countries around the world. Our goal is to bring
the redemptive love of Jesus Christ to prisoners, ex-prisoners,
families, and victims of crime. Many of our staff are ex-
offenders.
I want to speak just for a second about the problem. The
problem of prison rape, as you have just heard, is real. It is
unjust, it is tragic, and unfortunately, often hidden. For 26
years of Prison Fellowship's ministry, our staff employees and
volunteers have heard from many of the prisoners we have served
the kinds of stories we all just heard from Ms. Bruntmyer. We
have been able to see behind the curtain of secrecy that so
often exists.
This is a problem that affects everyone. Ninety-five
percent of all inmates will return to society and they will
return in a way that will either help them to reintegrate or
hinder their ability to reintegrate. If they have been victims
of sexual assault and rape, the deck is stacked against them
from becoming productive members of society.
Congressman Wolf eloquently spoke about the psychological
ravages that occur from prison rape and Ms. Bruntmyer's son is
an example of what ultimately happens in far too many cases,
and that is psychological depression, leading to suicide.
The problem also affects more prisoners than we think. Out
of the two million prisoners in the United States, the
estimates are between 250,000 and 600,000 have been forced to
have sexual contact. In 1996, Nebraska was the subject of a
survey showing 22 percent of prisoners had been forced to have
sexual contact. An anonymous Southern State was surveyed on the
condition of anonymity. One-third of prisoners said they had
been subject to prison rape. The guards estimated one-in-five,
the prison officials, one-in-eight. Either of those statistics
are devastating.
Prison Journal had a study in 2000 showing 21 percent of
all inmates in America have been raped. The problem is that
studies are too few, and part of what this legislation will
remedy is to force us to keep statistics to shine a spotlight
on the problem.
The other systemic part of this problem is that it is
fostered by acceptance and indifference at every level. Many in
society believe that those in prison deserve whatever happens
to them in prison or believe that whatever happens is
inevitable. Both are wrong. Some in authority, unfortunately,
look the other way in order to preserve the peace.
Jack Cowley was a warden with the Oklahoma Correctional
System for 20 years. He shared with me, before I came
yesterday, he said, ``Prison rape, to a large degree, is made
more serious by the deliberate indifference of many prison
officials. Oftentimes, these officials will purposely turn
their back on unspeakable acts in order to maintain peace,
allowing aggressive predators to have their way. Additionally,
many prison rapes involve intimidation of the weaker inmate to
the point where they reluctantly give consent in order to
survive, but it is rape nonetheless. Therefore, many of the
officials believe in managing a 1,000-person prison designed
for only 500 becomes much easier and they permit it to occur as
a means of prison control.''
Having served as Attorney General in Virginia and having
been in the legislature for 10 years, obviously, all of us in
politics want to be tough on crime. Prison rape is a crime. It
is a crime that no one, either in jail or out of jail, should
ever be subject to.
This proposed legislation today that is the subject of this
hearing has a tremendously broad coalition of support and you
are to be commended for leading such a coalition. Its goal is
to eliminate rape. I would like to just focus my comments on
one piece of the legislation which I think is going to be very
important, and that is that it enables the collection of
statistics.
In society, we measure what we care about, and
unfortunately, we have not cared about this problem. We need to
begin. Measuring statistics will imprint this issue upon the
moral conscience of America. It will imprint it upon the moral
conscience of prison officials, and it will discourage prison
officials from using it as a means of prison control. It will
enable us to pinpoint the prisons that need help, to allocate
attention and resources accordingly.
Issues of federalism should not be a concern with this
legislation. This legislation forces a State to do nothing. It
has no unfunded mandates. It does encourage States to adopt
Federal standards, but it even allows them to opt out of those
Federal standards by a vote of their legislature. Indeed, if
the Congress wanted to, based on existing constitutional law,
it could go much further, but this is a bill which respects the
sovereignty of States. Therefore, objections based on a
federalism argument should not be an issue.
Finally, I would like to close with a quote of Winston
Churchill, who said this. ``One of the best tests of whether we
are truly a civilized people is the temper and mood of the
public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals.'' You
have afforded us a great opportunity to pass this test, a test
which we have failed in the past. Thank you.
Senator Kennedy. Thank you very much. That is very helpful.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Earley appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Kennedy. Rabbi Saperstein?
STATEMENT OF RABBI DAVID SAPERSTEIN, DIRECTOR, RELIGIOUS ACTION
CENTER OF REFORM JUDAISM, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Rabbi Saperstein. Good afternoon. I am here representing
the National Reform Jewish movement. I am pleased to speak in
support of the Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002. This
important legislation would address a profound violation of
human rights whose shameful prevalence has been overlooked in
this country for far too long.
I want to commend you, Senator Kennedy and Senator
Sessions, as well as Representatives Wolf and Scott, for your
passionate, bipartisan leadership on this issue. We could not
have, we could not ask for Congressional champions more
dedicated to upholding the basic values of human dignity.
The scourge of prison rape demands a response. Tragically,
there are hundreds of thousands of Linda Bruntmyers, hundreds
of thousands of mothers and fathers who see their children
brutalized, victimized, and are unable to do anything about it.
Tragically, there are hundreds of thousands of Rodney Hulins,
too, those who are the victims and have nowhere to go for help
and are caught up in a Kafka-esque system that grinds down
their spirits and their bodies.
No society that considers itself to be a moral and
compassionate society can stand idly by the blood of our
neighbors. We must speak out. That has brought us here and has
led you to introduce and to further this legislation.
We know the statistics. We have heard them here. But behind
each of those are real human beings. We must not allow this
terror to continue.
The bill at issue today provides a responsible and measured
approach to the problem, setting up mechanisms for the study,
reporting, and prevention of prison rape. It promises to bring
to the forefront this tragic plague that is too often a
punchline and too rarely a subject of genuine concern in our
civic life.
Mark Earley spoke about some of the provisions of the bill.
I was delighted to see also that it will set up a commission to
deal in some depth with this. As one who is honored to have
served as the chair of a Federal commission established by a
unanimous Act of Congress, I can testify to the potential of
such commissions to be a vitally effective goad to executive
and legislative officials and to the public conscience.
These reforms, if enacted, would for the first time signal
a serious engagement with the problem by the Federal
Government. Such an engagement is vital precisely because
turning our back on prison rape not only violates the Eighth
Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment, it
also betrays our most fundamental moral values.
I am here today to tell you that we can prevent prison
rape. We must prevent prison rape. We can no longer stand idly
by.
From 1971 to 1973, I served as a volunteer chaplain in a
Federal penitentiary in Danbury, Connecticut. It is a better
facility as far as correctional facilities go, and yet even
there, I counseled people who were the victims of sexual abuse
and sexual assault, and there, for the first time, I
encountered the response of prison officials, who said, ``There
is nothing that we can do.''
Well, there is something we can do and that is what is
uniting us here. Because of the profound moral clarity of the
issue, a remarkable coalition of conscience has come together
in support of your legislation--Jewish, mainline Protestant,
Evangelical, Unitarian, civil rights, human rights, criminal
justice reform advocates, health care professionals, youth
workers, liberals, conservatives, and everyone in between,
because we all believe that prison rape is wrong and that we
can and must do something about it.
Many of us work together frequently, some of us a little
less commonly. For example, it is not so common for Reform Jews
and conservative Evangelicals to find common ground to work
together, but when we do, you can be sure that the issue at
stake is one that cuts to the heart of a principle so basic
that no reasonable person can stand in the way of its genuine
manifestation.
One of the Bible's most radical innovations was to put
forward the notion that human beings are created ``b'tselem
elohim,'' ``in the image of God.'' The use of that divine image
to describe the human state serves to raise up humankind to
proclaim the infinite worth and potential of each individual
person and the implications of such a concept are far-reaching
and profound, imposing on individuals and societies the
obligation never to stand by while others are degraded, to
recognize the potential in all for redemption, and to assist
the most vulnerable.
That this includes the prisoner is reflected directly in
the Bible. In Biblical times, there was not imprisonment for
criminal activity, but the closest analogy we have--the status
of those who were taken as prisoners captured in wartime--sees
in Deuteronomy clear prohibitions against their abuse,
including, according to the rabbis, rape of both men and women.
Rape is a sin, a vile sin, in the Bible. It is at minimum a
civil wrong requiring payment of damages by the perpetrator for
compensation. The Bible recognizes the immense pain, suffering,
shame, and blemish that those who are targeted and victimized
are intended to suffer. In other places, rape is categorized as
a capital offense.
But we recognize that to allow the epidemic of prison rape
to continue unabated is to reject the spirit of the divine that
connects us all. Therefore, I urge the other members of this
committee to join with you in passing out as soon as possible
and bringing to the floor for passage the Prison Rape Reduction
Act. We need to act expeditiously. For every day we delay,
there are other Rodney Hulins who continue to be victimized,
and that we can no longer accept.
Senator Kennedy. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Rabbi Saperstein appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Kennedy. Mr. Dumond?
STATEMENT OF ROBERT W. DUMOND, CLINICAL MENTAL HEALTH
COUNSELOR, AND MEMBER, BOARD OF ADVISORS, STOP PRISONER RAPE,
HUDSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Mr. Dumond. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Senator Sessions.
I would like to thank the Senate Judiciary Committee for the
opportunity to testify here today. I would also like to thank
you, Senator Kennedy and Senator Sessions, for your leadership
in proposing this historic legislation, as well as Congressmen
Wolf and Scott.
Prison rape has often been accepted as an inevitable
consequence of incarceration. We cannot and must not allow this
to occur. Your leadership will alleviate the agony of hundreds
of thousands, perhaps millions of individuals who have suffered
in silence.
My name is Robert Dumond. I am a licensed clinical mental
health counselor who for over 30 years has provided services to
crime victims and offenders in a variety of settings, most
notably within the office of the Essex County District Attorney
Kevin Burke and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.
Having extensively researched prison sexual assault, I am here
to provide a scientific context to this scandal.
While everyone recognizes that sexual assault is a problem,
the actual incidence of prison sexual assault in the United
States is unknown. Currently, no national database exists. In
35 years, there have only been 15 empirically-based studies to
study the problem and only two have included women. As you have
heard, we have, however, a reliable baseline of incidence data
to draw from, from two large studies of Midwestern prisons
conducted by Cindy Struckman-Johnson and her colleagues.
I know this is going to be repetitive, but I think it bears
repeating. She found that 22 to 25 percent of the prisons are
victims of sexual pressuring, attempted sexual assault, and
completed rape. One in ten is going to experience a completed
rape during the course of their incarceration. Two-thirds of
those who reported were victimized repeatedly, an average of
nine times. Some males experienced 100 incidents per year.
Others experienced assaults daily.
Using this data, it is reasonable to conclude that in
States with larger, urban, more heterogeneous populations, the
incidence would be much higher. This was demonstrated in a 1982
study of a California medium-security prison in which one in
seven inmates reported being the victim of a completed rape.
One of the goals of this legislation is to scientifically
collect the actual incidents of prison sexual assault in
institutions nationally.
No inmate is immune from victimization. Certain inmates,
however, appear to be especially vulnerable. These include the
young, the inexperienced, first-time offenders, the mentally
disabled, and homosexual and effeminate men, to name but a few.
As you have heard, the crisis of being a sexual assault
victim is global and devastating. In prison, however, it is
even more debilitating. Victims often experience physical
assaults as well as their attacks and they may experience
repeated trauma. Once targeted, male victims may endure years
of sexual slavery.
The mental health consequences are catastrophic. Victims
experience a variety of symptoms, including post-traumatic
stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and exacerbation of
preexisting psychiatric disorders, and they may also consider,
attempt, or complete suicide as a means of alleviating their
suffering. This is more disturbing when we realize that we
currently house more individuals with mental illness in the
United States in jails and prisons than collectively in the
psychiatric facilities nationwide. In addition, most
correctional facilities have few or inadequate services to
treat victims carefully.
As you have heard, the public health consequences are
equally overwhelming. Victims may contract HIV, AIDS, other
sexually transmitted diseases, other communicable diseases such
as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, which are rampant in
corrections nationally. These may be spread to others in the
prison population and to the general community.
Prison sexual assault destabilizes the safety and security
of American jails and prisons. For over 25 years, it has been
recognized as a contributing factor in prison homicides,
institutional violence, and riots. Administrative and
programmatic solutions have long been recommended but too often
ignored. Many prison administrators have been largely
unaccountable for the sexual assaults committed under their
care.
The study you heard of by Joanne Mariner of Human Rights
Watch in 2001 surveyed 50 State correctional departments and
the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Her study confirms this denial.
Effective management can only be implemented when we have
accurate data. Only 23 of 46 corrections departments currently
maintain statistics about sexual assault. None of the States
that reported had statistics that were in any way consistent
with the two large-scale studies of Struckman-Johnson. Staff
training has long been recognized as a vital issue in
addressing the problem. Only six States currently and the
Federal Bureau of Prisons provide such training. Criminal
prosecutions are virtually nonexistent.
This legislation provides a tangible, comprehensive
strategy to address the complex challenges of prison sexual
assault. With accurate incidence data, correctional managers
can make rational decisions about staff deployment, resource
allocation, inmate placement, thereby improving the safety and
security of America's jails and prisons. This is also a crisis
which can be managed without significant monetary expenditures.
The bill's emphasis on visibility and accountability will be
highly effective. Prison officials with records of poor
practice will be held accountable for their inaction and
deliberate indifference. The National Prison Rape Reduction
Commission will also play a key role in developing reasonable
standards of care for providing staff training, treatment of
victims, and ensuring the best professional practice.
Stop Prisoner Rape endorses this legislation as a critical
step in curbing one of the most pervasive and devastating
abuses that has been allowed to continue in the United States.
They and I urge your support. Prison rape is preventable.
Prison rape is predictable. We have ignored this problem for
much too long. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners, many of whom
are the most vulnerable, have silently endured these crimes. We
have the technology. We have the resources and the means to
address this issue. But we have lacked the political will to
implement the remedy. Please, please do not allow this scandal
to continue. My heartfelt thanks for your time and attention.
Senator Kennedy. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Dumond appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Kennedy. I thank all our panel for excellent
testimony.
Ms. Bruntmyer, let me ask you, after you went through this
horrific experience, were you able to reach out to anyone or
was anyone able to reach out to you? Have you been able to work
with different groups where there are other families that have
lost loved ones, or have you felt sort of solitary in this
whole crisis? What could you tell us about the efforts that
have been made to reach out to you or that you have tried to
work with other kinds of individuals who might similarly be
affected?
Have you been able to do it, or has it just been too
difficult emotionally? If your answer to that was, it has just
been too difficult, I certainly would understand it. But I am
just wondering how you have been able to survive and how you
have been able to deal with this.
Ms. Bruntmyer. I have a support group that I do in my home
for families. I do help them with their children, their loved
ones in prison to know what is the process of sending a book,
how to sit down and write a letter. We were told, when we went
through it with Rodney, we have no rights. We found out we do
have rights and Rodney had rights. We did not know that. And
today, we try to save kids. We try to help them. We are there
for the families.
Senator Kennedy. It would certainly seem that as this
commission is set up to try and sort of develop this kind of
understanding of what is happening, that they would certainly
spend some time with you and your group and other similar
groups to be able to see what can be done to provide help and
assistance to you and to the other groups and what can be done
in terms of taking steps to prevent this.
Let me ask just the panel, in listening to all of you, I
gather there is sort of this culture of tolerance that is out
there. How do you break through that cultural tolerance? How do
you think that that can be done? We can get the information. We
can get the statistics. We can get the training. I suppose
included in that is the prosecution, perhaps even, in terms of
individuals who tolerate this or knowingly let this go by.
How do you think, as people that have seen this, thought
about it, talked about it, studied it, how do you break through
this sort of culture? What ideas or suggestions do you have in
this area?
Mr. Dumond. Senator, I would like to address that by
addressing a couple of issues. You have heard the strong moral
argument, which has been articulated, and clearly, we have to
keep maintaining the fact that this can occur to any individual
who is incarcerated in the United States.
Senator Kennedy. Right.
Mr. Dumond. As an aside, there but for the grace of God go
I. Any one of us in this room, had we had the kind of
experience that many of these men and women had, could have
been incarcerated.
A second issue which I think may be effective is the cost-
benefit analysis. We currently expend an average of about
$20,000 to $22,000 to $25,000 minimally for each inmate each
year. When you consider maximum-security prisons, that cost can
escalate to $75,000 to $80,000. From a cost-benefit analysis,
does society do itself a disservice by allowing for prison
sexual assault when these individuals, A) will get out, B) will
harm other people, and C) return back to prison? So the cost-
benefit analysis, I think, clearly has to be considered as a
major factor, and that can be instrumental in causing a sort of
a change or a sea change of how our attitude about this issue.
Rabbi Saperstein. Let me also add two things. The first is,
putting a human face on this crisis is indispensable to raising
the conscience of the country. If everyone in the nation could
take 3 minutes and listen to Linda Bruntmyer tell her story, it
would transform the way this would be dealt with.
But structurally, the inclusion in this legislation of the
commission, whose job it will be to help accumulate the
statistics, along with the Attorney General and the Justice
Department, whose job it will be to hold hearings on this--
there is not a single community in the country where you could
not go and hear a variant of the tragic story that we heard
today. And if that commission is doing its job and holding
hearings around the country, getting attention in the local
papers, it will be an indispensable component to raising the
consciousness of the nation and mobilizing local legislators
like yourself to follow in your footsteps here, to begin to
look for legislative steps to take at the local and the State
level, as well, where really much of this job must be done.
And that, I think, is the brilliance of this legislation,
that it really aims to empower the States, not to force the
States to do things, but to empower the States to act
effectively in this arena, giving them the tools, the training,
the guidelines, the experience of best practices across the
country, and the information necessary to do that.
So in very real ways, Senator Kennedy, the answer to your
question is your legislation.
Senator Kennedy. Thank you.
Mr. Earley. Senator, I was going to mention the same thing.
I do not think you can underestimate the fact that simply
because now this legislation has been proposed and it has such
a broad coalition of support and it is a bipartisan effort in
the Senate and in the Congress, I think the actual barrier has
been broken. Today, with two million people in prison in
America, you do not have to go far to touch a family that is
impacted by crime or who has a son or daughter or mother or
father or husband or wife in prison.
I think with the establishment of a national commission and
being able to have actually some concrete data--you heard we
have only had, what, 15 studies in 35 years--that is going to
enable this. I think the decency of the American people is such
that once this is clearly articulated by its national leaders
at the national level, there will be a profound systematic
change that can occur rather quickly.
Senator Kennedy. Let me ask you, Mr. Earley, again on this
federalism issue, could you talk about this for another moment
or two. I know the administration is looking this legislation
over and making up its mind and I know this would be something
that they will be interested in. Senator Sessions has obviously
had a long tradition on the issues of federalism and it seems
to me we have tried to deal with this question. I would be
interested, as a former Attorney General, your own view of
whether you think this is a fair balance.
Mr. Earley. I think it is. In fact, I think it is more than
balanced. I mean, the Congress could, I believe, based on the
Farmer case, approach this issue with a much bigger stick. I do
not think it needs to. I think it is taking the right approach,
and as I mentioned in my comments, this legislation, I think,
is carefully crafted.
It requires the States to do nothing. It has no unfunded
mandates. It even has an opt-out provision. The only punitive
issue in this bill, and it would be wrong to call it punitive,
is it withholds certain Federal monies if the State decides to
opt out of the standards that would be articulated by the
commission to the Attorney General of the United States and
then adopted by the Attorney General.
So again, I think it strikes just the right balance, and I
do not think, having served with the Attorneys General for the
last 4 years, this is an issue that is important to all of
them, Democrats and Republicans, the federalism issue, and I do
not think you will hear that as an objection to this bill
because of the thought that has gone into crafting it. I
commend you on that, because that is tough.
Let me just finally ask, I would be interested if you find
some places or institutions that are particularly noteworthy,
it might be useful. I do not know whether it comes to mind now,
but I think as this moves along, if you find that there are
some that are particularly noteworthy, we ought to try and
highlight those. I do not know whether we would get a chance to
go visit or whatever, but we would be glad to hear about them.
I think it is important that we try and give some focus and
attention and recognition to those that are really doing a good
job on this, and I think in this way attempt to encourage
others to try and sort of do that.
Mr. Dumond. Mr. Chairman, just as a model to consider,
since 1979, the San Francisco jail under Michael Markum has had
very strong commitment to preventing prisoner sexual assault.
It has a long tradition of identifying this as a problem, of
noting it to new inmates who are coming in, of making people
aware.
Also, one of the telling things about Mariner's report was
that it identified that in institutions where there was a zero-
tolerance attitude from the top, this problem was not manifest
with the same degree that we have seen in some of the
statistics. So clearly, there are corrections environments that
are doing a good job, that are handling this in a responsible
manner. We need to use those as models and certainly consider
them as we craft what we are going to do from this point on.
Senator Kennedy. I think that is an excellent response,
particularly to those that say, well, this is just going to
happen so they cannot do anything about it. It is inevitable.
This is the way it has been for no matter how many hundred
years and it is going to be that way in the future. If we are
able to identify those institutions that are really making a
difference on it, and no one underestimates the complexity and
the difficulty of doing it, but those that are making
systematic progress on it, we ought to do everything we can to
highlight it or mention it. We invite all of you and those that
are going to be reading through the record on this to be in
touch with House sponsors and Senator Sessions and myself so
that we can try and highlight those that are doing a good job.
Senator Sessions?
Senator Sessions. Thank you.
Ms. Bruntmyer, thank you for sharing that story with us. It
is just very, very moving and all of us who have played a role
in the criminal justice system in America cannot feel good that
there are others also that suffered as Rodney did.
He was sentenced, even though he was young, as an adult, is
that correct, and was sent to adult prison?
Ms. Bruntmyer. Yes, sir.
Rabbi Saperstein. Mr. Chairman, one of the things when we
had our juvenile crime bill, I favored expanding juvenile jails
and some people criticized that as saying you want to lock up
young people. But really, what most people are failing to
realize is we are certifying as adults a much, much larger of
young people than we ever have before. The main reason is there
is not enough space in the juvenile system. So I just say that.
I think we could do better by expanding our juvenile system.
Do you think, Mr. Dumond, that juvenile facilities are more
protective of the people there than maybe an adult prison, or
it depends?
Mr. Dumond. I would like to say yes, Senator. The evidence
does not seem to appear the case.
Senator Sessions. Really?
Mr. Dumond. There has really been a paucity of studies in
juvenile facilities. One of the studies that was done was done
by Ken Wooden, ``Weeping in the Playtime of Others,'' in 1976.
Also, Bartollas and Sieveides did a study of juvenile
institutions. Forst, Fagan and Vivona in 1989 were able to
identify that juvenile institutions, individuals in juvenile
institutions were five times more likely to be sexually
assaulted than others.
So clearly, I think this is not a problem where we designed
a system to be better protective of our juveniles. I think many
of you are aware, in the local media here in Washington, there
has been an outcry about a number of young people who have been
sexually assaulted while in foster care. I think that is
endemic of the kind of situation that occurs nationally.
Senator Kennedy certainly will remember in our own home
State of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the training
schools in part were closed because there were allegations,
serious allegations, of sexual assault and misconduct against
some of the juveniles.
So clearly, this is not a problem where--I would like to
say, yes, we have protected children better. We have not.
Senator Sessions. Does our legislation, in your view, is it
comprehensive enough to cover surveys of juvenile facilities
also?
Mr. Dumond. Again, I am not sure----
Senator Sessions. We may need to look at that and make sure
that that is----
Mr. Dumond. That may be something we want to----
Senator Sessions [continuing]. Clearly covered, because we
need to know that.
Mr. Earley, let me ask you, to follow up on Mr. Dumond's
suggestion that there are prisons that are a lot better than
others, do you think that is true and do you agree that with
strong leadership, that incidents of sexual abuse could be
dramatically reduced?
Mr. Earley. I do. I think in any organization, whether it
is a prison system or anything else, the signal that is sent
down from the top, you cannot overestimate its significance.
One of the things in this bill that will help in the long
run is that you all have put in a requirement that those
organizations that accredit correctional facilities throughout
the United States will have now as part of its new regimen of
deciding accreditation what these institutions are doing for
this problem. So that is going to require, as well as, I think,
the desire of those who run the prisons--I do not think they
are much different than us and I think if they are focused on
this problem with strong leadership, it will make a huge
difference.
Senator Sessions. Mr. Dumond?
Mr. Dumond. Senator Sessions, I would like to add to Mr.
Earley's comments. In regards to professionalization,
corrections in America was vastly improved in the 1960's
because it took a very hard look at the way it handled itself.
By providing for intensive training, by professionalizing what
it did, by accrediting and having accreditation agencies that
would sponsor an examination of agencies, we were able to make
corrections better.
It is a glaring example of how we have failed and denied
this issue that the American Correctional Association, for
example, does not have a current standard regarding sexual
assault. There is a standard, again, for the record to be
considered, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care
has had a standard regarding sexual assault since about 1986.
So certainly, this is an issue that when we set the tone, when
we raise the bar, it is likely that we will get a positive
response.
Senator Sessions. For the correctional officers who go
through training and certification to meet certain standards,
are you satisfied that they receive enough training on this
subject or do you think they do not?
Mr. Dumond. Absolutely not. I guess I am proud to say, and
again, Senator Kennedy will support me on this, I believe,
Massachusetts was one of the first States to provide for
intensive training of its correctional staff. We did this back
in 1994. And as I indicated, I think Massachusetts has done a
fairly good job. Can it be better? Absolutely. But certainly,
we are eons ahead of what many States are currently doing, and,
in fact, many States are doing nothing.
Senator Sessions. What about the standards? Exactly how
would you articulate what a good standard should be and how
would that affect behavior in a prison?
Mr. Dumond. I think that is an excellent question, Senator.
No. 1, any standard that is articulated or promulgated has to
be empirically based. I think we have to have sound scientific
data to attach and identify so that we make our standards
responsive to the data that we now understand.
Second, we have to implement an ongoing training system.
One of the things that is built in nationally to corrections,
every correctional staff in almost every State Department of
Corrections and in the Federal Bureau of Prisons must take
about 40 hours of comprehensive training each year to update
their skills. We have the mechanisms and the tools to impact
upon this in a very substantive manner. We now need the
curricula and we need to provide that to corrections training
officers so that this is something that corrections officers
will identify.
As an aside, Nacci and Kane, who were researchers with the
Federal Bureau of Prisons, back in 1982, 1983, and 1984
identified that staff training was an essential ingredient and
part of the problem. They also identified that one of the
issues that has been largely overlooked, many corrections
officers look at sexual assault or sexual events that occur in
prison and assume that it is consensual. By doing that, they
are really avoiding and denying the fact that many of these
individuals are coerced into being sexually assaulted on an
ongoing basis.
We have to have a complete understanding of the severity of
this issue. We have to hold people accountable who are
corrections officers and correctional managers. If you are not
doing your job, you will be held accountable for that.
Senator Sessions. Now, on a standard, this would tell a
correctional officer, if they have a complaint from an inmate
or a concern of an inmate or an expression of concern by a
guard that something may be unhealthy going on, it would help
them to have a step for them to take that would be objective
and professionally based.
Mr. Dumond. Exactly.
Senator Sessions. Do you think that the key to reducing
prison rape would be to listen and make it absolutely clear
from the beginning of a person's incarceration that if they
feel threatened or are threatened that they should report it,
and something does happen to protect them?
Mr. Dumond. That something will, in fact, occur. There are
a number of steps that we need to do. Even educating inmates
themselves when they come into prison that they may be sexually
victimized, that is a way to empower them to handle the
situation.
One of the tasks that has been identified and one of the
issues that many inmates confront, when they come to prison,
they often have nothing. What they do is other prisoners will
give them things, and then when they cannot pay them back, they
will be forced to give sexual favors to pay them back. That is
something that an inmate who has never been in prison before
needs to know, and that is something that they need to be able
to address, and also that the outcome will be taken seriously.
If I come to you as a correctional staff person and I say,
``I have been sexually assaulted,'' you will take me seriously.
You will try to provide me with protection. You will try to
move me out of that particular unit. You will try to get me
some mental health or medical treatment for my injuries, and
you will help me from being victimized in the future.
Unfortunately, as you have heard, this is not the case for many
inmates.
Senator Sessions. Mr. Earley, you said that we ought to be
tough on crime, and were not not being tough on crime, and you
are exactly correct. In fact, when we do not prosecute people
who sexually assault someone, whether they are in prison or
not, we are being soft on crime, do you not agree?
Mr. Earley. Absolutely.
Senator Sessions. I mean, it is a crime just as much to
assault somebody sexually in prison as out of prison as a
matter of law, is it not?
Mr. Earley. Right, and many times, it can be more
aggravated because that person in prison has a loss of control
and they are dependent upon the State much more for their
security.
Senator Sessions. With regard to that, do you feel that
when the State takes a person's liberty and places them where
they do not desire to be--in the slammer--that they have a
particular responsibility to see that they are not subjected to
extra-legal actions and punishments?
Mr. Earley. Absolutely. I think Mr. Dumond made an
important point, and all of us who have been involved in
government are aware of this. Unfortunately, in all of our
institutions where we require people to be against their will,
whether it is mental health institutions, juvenile detention
facilities, or jails, we have a systemic problem with people
oftentimes being exposed to dangers that they would not be
exposed to on the outside and being taken advantage of.
In many cases, in prisons, for example, we have looked the
other way because of this sort of prevailing public attitude
and we have, I think, perhaps all been guilty of it, and that
is, well, you know, they are in prison. They deserve what they
get. I think the decency of the American people, the decency of
people who run our institutions can be appealed to and it can
be put a stop to.
Mr. Dumond. Mr. Sessions, one of the things that you may
also be aware of, if you were to talk to any corrections
officer who was new to corrections and you asked them what the
mission of corrections would be, they will tell you three
things. It is the care, custody, and control of inmates.
Clearly, having and allowing for the sexual assault of inmates
under the care of the jurisdiction of a governmental agency
does not meet the requirement of care, custody, and control. So
we are actually violating the basic mission of American
corrections by not addressing this problem.
Senator Sessions. I believe there is one more thing that
was mentioned previously--I believe you did, Mr. Dumond, and
maybe you, Mr. Earley--that somehow, some in the prison system
might see prison rape as a management tool. What do you mean by
that?
Mr. Dumond. Just for the record, that is not my statement,
but I will tell you that the research has been very strong in
indicating and many analysts have suggested that it is a way to
control the competing forces within a prison environment, and I
will give you an example.
If I have some strong inmates who then can be sexually
satiated with weaker inmates and I can get them to conform to
the prison institution by allowing this to take place, then I
can manage my institution in a better fashion. Clearly, that is
inappropriate, and clearly, that is wrong and can never be
accepted. But that has been suggested by some very serious
analysts, including Dr. Jim Gilligan, also of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, who is a forensic psychiatrist, in his book
in 1997, Violence: An American Epidemic. He suggests very
strongly that there may have been a collusion by correctional
institutions in allowing for prison sexual assault to occur as
a management tool.
Senator Sessions. Mr. Earley?
Mr. Earley. Senator Sessions, if I could, I did not read
this because of time, but this is just a brief excerpt. An L.A.
Times article in 1999 reported the case of Eddie Dillard, a 23-
year-old gang member from Los Angeles, which is a frightening
example of what you were just talking about. Dillard was
serving time for assault with a deadly weapon when he kicked a
female guard. He was transferred to the cell of Wayne
Robertson, known within prison walls as the ``booty bandit.''
Robertson was an enforcer for the guards, helping them rein in
troublesome newcomers while officials looked the other way.
When Dillard protested the transfer, he was told, ``Since
you like hitting women, we have got somebody for you.''
Robertson, the person to whom he was transferred in with, beat,
raped, and tortured Dillard for days. The guards were later
criminally charged, and while they were ultimately acquitted,
there was no dispute as to the facts, merely as to whether or
not liability extended to prison officials. So I think that is
an example.
Senator Sessions. And it would indicate to me that that
prison is out of control, would you not agree?
Mr. Earley. It certainly was during that time.
Senator Sessions. The inmates are running the prison. That
is not the way the system should be and I hope that is not too
common, but I am afraid it is more common than we would like to
admit.
Rabbi Saperstein, thank you for your leadership on this
issue. You spoke very clearly that even though a person might
be housed behind bars, they are the same creature of God that
they were before they went in and will be the same as they will
be when they are out. I think every human being is entitled to
safe conditions, even in prison.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership on this issue.
You are champion of a lot of issues of this kind. It is
important, and I have enjoyed very much working with you.
Senator Kennedy. I thank you, Senator Sessions. We are
reminded by our panel and others that this is a long-standing
problem. Listening to this, we always ask ourselves why we have
not been able to get on this before. But having said that, I
think we can give the assurance to our panelists and those who
are represented that we are committed to getting something done
and we want to work with all of you and others to try and make
sure that what we are going to do is going to be meaningful and
we are going to keep at it. That is what Senator Sessions wants
to do, what I want to do, and so we are in for the duration of
this and we want to try to make a difference. I believe we can.
Senator Sessions. Mr. Chairman, I would offer Senator
Hatch's statement, who is a supporter of this legislation,
also.
Senator Kennedy. The statement will be included in the
record. All statements will be included. Very good.
[The prepared statement of Senator Hatch appears as a
submission for the record.]
Senator Kennedy. The committee will stand in recess. Thanks
very much.
[Whereupon, at 2:46 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
[Submissions for the record follow:]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.001
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.002
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.003
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.004
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.005
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.006
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.007
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.008
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.009
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.010
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.011
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.012
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.013
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.014
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.015
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.016
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.017
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.018
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.019
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.020
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.021
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.022
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.023
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.024
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.025
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.026
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.027
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.028
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.029
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.030
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.031
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.032
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.033
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.034
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.035
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.036
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.037
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.038
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.039
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.040
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.041
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.042
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.043
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.044
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.045
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.046
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.047
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.048
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.049
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.050
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.051
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.052
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.053
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.054
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.055
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.056
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.057
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.058
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.059
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.060
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.061
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.062
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.063
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.064
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.065
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 87677.066