Dear Friend:

I have wonderful news! Today President Bush signed the Prison Rape Elimination Act. We heartily thank the President and the members of Congress for committing to end the scandal of prison rape

We’ve worked very hard over the last three years to get this bill passed. Thanks to all of you who returned our petitions and wrote to your senators and representatives in support of this important bill. You spoke on behalf of the powerless, and Congress and the President responded to your entreaties. I was thrilled to attend the signing ceremony today, in honor of the role Prison Fellowship, Justice Fellowship and all of our supporters played.

Special thanks must go to the courageous legislators who pressed their colleagues to pass this bill. There is no political gain from carrying a bill like this. Survivors of prison rape are not a large and influential constituency. The members of Congress who worked so hard for this bill did it simply because it was the moral thing to do.

Kudos to Senators Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Representatives Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.). I know they and the President would be grateful if you wrote and expressed your appreciation for their leadership on this important issue.

In His service,

Pat Nolan, President
Justice Fellowship