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By Becky Beane|Published Date: June 25, 2009
In a rare and surprising show of solidarity-and just days before recessing for August vacation-both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003. This legislation, which now awaits the expected signature of President Bush, will, for the first time, dedicate millions of dollars to the analysis, prevention, and punishment of sexual assault of men and women behind bars.
"They wanted this to pass," Justice Fellowship President Pat Nolan said of the congressional members, who sidestepped the partisan wrangling that customarily accompanies proposed legislation. "They knew it was the right thing to do."
But Nolan also credits the legislation's smooth passage to the painstaking three-year advance work done by a coalition of advocates, including Prison Fellowship, that prompted legislators-and the public in general-to pay attention to injustices against prisoners. Participants in the broad-based coalition ranged from Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition to the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza.
It was, in fact, coalition leader Michael Horowitz, senior fellow with the Hudson Institute-and Jewish-who challenged Chuck Colson to mobilize the Christian community to fight against prison rape as a heinous human-rights violation. And as word of the problem got out-such as through Colson's "BreakPoint" radio commentaries, a World magazine article written by Wilberforce Forum writer Anne Morse, and newspaper op-eds penned by Nolan and Bell-the Church rallied with "real outrage," says Nolan. Thousands petitioned their senators and representatives to support prison rape legislation.
Mariam Bell, director of public policy for Prison Fellowship's Wilberforce Forum, helped draft the bill. Then "we worked very hard in finding the right co-sponsors," she explains. That meant pulling together such political opposites as Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) in the Senate, and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) in the House.
Colson and PF President Mark Earley also went to Capitol Hill-a forum that Colson, as former general counsel to President Nixon, and Earley, as former attorney general for Virginia both found familiar . . . and receptive. In a letter to Colson last fall, Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert affirmed his support of the prison rape legislation and commended PF "for taking a lead position" in pushing it through. "Prison rape goes way beyond the bounds that any civilized society can tolerate," Hastert wrote. He called the bill "a truly compassionate initiative" that "will go a long way in addressing a problem that has too long been quietly swept under the rug."
That more policymakers are looking at prisoners with compassion is a reflection not only of Colson's influence, says Nolan, but also of "the thousands of volunteers who have delivered the Gospel in prisons with faithfulness and integrity. Prison Fellowship has credibility because we're not just advocates for prisoners; we also serve prisoners."
And many of those prisoners responded when alerted about the proposed legislation last year through Inside Journal, PF's newspaper sent to every state and federal prison in the U.S. Close to 100 prisoners wrote to tell their own harrowing experiences of being sexually assaulted in prison-and coping with the resulting shame, degradation, and "loss of manhood."
"I'm at the end of my rope," said one Colorado inmate who suffered severe injuries from rape and sodomy. "God has kept me alive in a place where I'd rather be dead. I think about ending this pain every day."
"I was raped a long time ago," wrote an inmate in Pennsylvania, "but that does not mean that I am not still trying to deal with it." At the time of the assault, he considered telling a prison officer, "but [another inmate] said no, you will be labeled as a 'snitch,' and when that happens, you will have to deal with being raped every day or until you get killed. So I kept my mouth shut."
Nobody really knows how many prisoners are sexually victimized each year, since no comprehensive studies have been done-a flaw the legislation will correct. Modest estimates indicate that 13 to 21 percent of inmates have been raped; juveniles and the mentally ill are particularly vulnerable. One of the first requirements of the new legislation is to set up a commission to thoroughly investigate the extent of the problem and to recommend national standards "for enhancing the detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment of prison rape" and for providing medical and trauma care for rape victims. Federal grants totaling $40 million will be dispersed to state and local governments and institutions to help accomplish these standards.
So Prison Fellowship's work is far from over, says Mariam Bell. The coalition will meet soon to discuss the next steps, such as suggesting candidates to serve on the commission, providing input on standards, and helping hold people accountable to follow through.
"Just passing the bill itself is not going to save anybody from being raped," notes Pat Nolan. "It's what follows that will make this effort successful in protecting prisoners."
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