WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday issued the first comprehensive federal rules aimed at “zero tolerance” for sexual assaults against inmates in prisons, jails and other houses of detention.
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The regulations, issued after years of discussions among officials and prisoner advocacy groups, address a problem that a new government study finds may afflict one out of every 10 prisoners, more than twice as many as suggested by an earlier survey.
Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003, and the rules to carry it out are the first to address federal, state and local prisons and jails, including institutions holding juveniles.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/us/politics/us-sets-first-comprehensive-rules-to-stem-prison-rape.html
and
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/06/20/503226/american-action-forum-prison-rape/
Right Wing Group: Protections To Prevent Prison Rape Are Too ‘Costly’ And ‘Heavy-Handed’ | By Scott Keyes on Jun 20, 2012 at 4:45 pm | ThinkProgress
A right-wing “think tank” released a report today criticizing the Obama administration’s new anti-prison rape protections as a “burden” that is too “costly” and “heavy-handed.”
This week, the Department of Justice published new standards addressing the epidemic of rape and sexual abuse in our nation’s prisons. The guidelines, which apply immediately to federal prisons and give financial incentives for states to comply, are a laudable, widely praised, and long overdue step in combating rape in the United States.
