Origins and Purpose of the Prison Rape Elimination Act
The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was passed in the year 2003 with support from Congress. The main reason why the act was passed and supported was to provide an analysis of rape cases as well as the effects of prison rape in the states and provide adequate information on crime in local institutions. We are all in agreement that the police and employees of police institutions or prisons should not harass the arrestee sexually. However, they should safeguard people in their custody and make sure that wherever they are around the jail institution, they are safe.
Protection Against Sexual Abuse in Custody
That is the primary role of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which enforces the law by preventing harassment as well as assaults. PREA addresses sexual assault of the people who are held in custody as well as identifying temporary police holding cells and lockups. PREA has set up a commission known as the National Prison Elimination Commission, whose purpose is to gather the appropriate information identifying the problem, hold the hearing in the country on prison rape and, more importantly, develop standards to prevent prison or custody rape cases (Manual, 2017). After Congress passed PREA, it tried to reduce sexual assault cases in prison. The legislators were to create a department which was to deal with these cases as well as set tolerance policies towards the abuse of inmates. The department would ensure that the inmates get screened to identify them. Additionally, correctional officers should be instructed on behaviour which constitutes sexual abuse, and abusers should get punished accordingly. Punishing the abusers will act as a warning to the guards or police who may have an idea of sexually assaulting the arrestee. Before the department was set, many inmates were raped and heard of Millions of people being attacked, unheard or talked out.
Leadership Culture and Institutional Safety
Sexual abuse is not an inevitable characteristic of incarceration since leadership administrators are creating a culture which will promote and facilitate safety for the inmates. Some reports that were released by Human Rights acted as a catalyst in creating public awareness of prison rape, which, as a result, led to federal legislation being pushed to address the issue of sexual assault behind bars. Many considered the legislative protection of the prisoners as a way of creating and expanding their legal rights. The proposed solutions to such cases have developed the prisoners’ right to sue the correctional officials to represent a sensible solution to the issue that has been unnoticed and unheard of for a longer period.
Development and Implementation of PREA Standards
However, despite the fact that it took a long time, like a period of ten years, for PREA to meet its standards, it has finally come to be. They have reached their goal of trying to eliminate the cases of prison rape, and the commission that was created has enabled PREA to collect adequate information, which has helped it meet its standard. The services offered to the victims, such as a confidential rape crisis hotline, mental health counselling, medical exams carried out by sexual assault nurses, and advocating victims’ rights, give the victims the opportunity to open up whenever they are assaulted and feel that they have a right to report the act (Robertson, 2004).
Limitations of Research and Enforcement
Nevertheless, PREA has made many efforts in trying to eliminate prison rape and assault cases, but there are many things they should have considered. Research should not be conducted once, and a solution should be developed since things change over time. Therefore, I would suggest that the research and investigations be carried out frequently, such as every five years. Hence, this will enable PREA and the commission to gather information about sexual assault behind bars. PREA should have set up agencies that were required to impose disciplinary measures if the staff did not report their idea or provide enough information related to sexual abuse. Our systems are the main problem since they run on a culture of violence where every official is driven by power and sex, too. Therefore, if we change the culture within our jail system, we can be in a position to diminish prison rape cases entirely. Administrators in prisons and jails must be willing to come up with solutions on how to restore justice as well as reduce violence by implementing programs and coming up with a number of them.
Staff Accountability and Prevention Practices
When these approaches and applications are applied by staff in uniform as well as the administrators, they will create a space for reducing sexual assault as well as demanding accountability from the correctional individuals and inmates, hence ensuring that each person respects the values of humanity (Manual, 2017).
Media Evidence of Abuse in Correctional Facilities
Ted Koppel was a BBC reporter who reported a rampant case in American correctional facilities where inmates undergo a lot of harassment as well as rape by officials and administrators. His report was an eye-opener since it made citizens understand how the American Correctional facilities had people who did not value humanity. After interviewing some inmates, they described how prison was a threat like any other deadly disease like AIDS and cancer. A cook, Mr. Kerry, was raped, and after some DNA tests, it was indeed the truth that he was assaulted and sexually harassed (KOPPEL, 2017). After revealing their experiences, it became an eye-opener for the legislators to come up with the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
References
Manual, N. C. (2017). Prison Rape Elimination Act. POLICY, 902, 1.
Robertson, J. E. (2004). The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003: A Primer. CRIMINAL LAW BULLETIN-BOSTON-., 40(3), 270-279.
KOPPEL, S. (2017). Hot House: Leavenworth Prison.
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