Attorney General Eric Holder and the US Justice Department on Monday released a proposed rule many hope will help prevent and respond to sexual abuse in nation's penal institutions, according to a report obtained by the 14,000-member National Association of Chiefs of Police.
Justice Department officials will allow a 60-day public comment period after the standards are published in the Federal Register. According to officials, the Justice Department will then make revisions and the standards will be published as a final rule. The department expects the final rule will be published by the end of the year.
“Sexual abuse is a crime, not punishment for a crime,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.
“The Department of Justice’s goal is to eliminate these acts of violence by taking deliberative and concrete steps to ensure the health and safety of prisoners. In crafting our proposed rule, we have aimed to build a durable set of standards that are attainable, effective and consistent with the Prison Rape Elimination Act’s requirements and goals," Holder stated during a press conference.
The standards seek to prevent sexual abuse and to reduce the harm that it causes when it occurs. Each of the four sets of standards consists of 11 categories: prevention planning; responsive planning; training and education; screening for risk of sexual victimization and abusiveness; reporting; official response following an inmate report; investigations; discipline; medical and mental care; data collection and review; and audits.
Among other things, the proposed standards would require correctional agencies to:
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Ban cross-gender strip searches, and for juveniles, cross-gender pat-down searches;
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Check the backgrounds of new hires and not hire past abusers;
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Establish an evidence protocol to preserve evidence following an incident and train investigators to act promptly and diligently;
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Screen inmates through a process that takes into account their safety and assign them to housing in a way that best protects them;
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Provide multiple methods to report sexual abuse;
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Provide inmates access to outside victim advocates for emotional support services related to sexual abuse;
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Provide appropriate medical and mental health care to victims;
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Prepare a written policy mandating zero tolerance toward all forms of sexual abuse and sexual harassment;
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Discipline staff and inmate assailants appropriately, with termination as the presumptive disciplinary sanction for staff who have engaged in sexual touching;
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Train employees on their responsibilities in preventing, recognizing and responding to sexual abuse;
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Allow inmates a reasonable amount of time to file grievances so as to preserve their ability to seek legal redress after exhausting administrative remedies; and conduct audits to assess compliance.
Jim Kouri, CPP, formerly Fifth Vice-President, is currently a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a columnist for Examiner.com and New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer and columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.
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Comments
I remember President George W. Bush speaking about abolishing prison rape years ago. Is this something that was not accomplished before he left office?
thats crazy man,if we eliminate sex in prison that means we will have crank yankers on or selves. i can see if your pee wee hermens
that kinda makes sense butt gee gollies man.
Get negroes out of America and the problem will disappear overnight.
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