LD 1611 would impose much-needed limits on the use of segregated confinement in Maine prisons.

If adopted, the June 2009 standards submitted by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission would go far toward eliminating rape in adult prisons and jails, juvenile and immigration detention facilities, and community corrections.

The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) and Human Rights Watch submit these comments in response to the notice of proposed rulemaking, 74 Fed. Reg. 61096, implementing the “anti-prostitution pledge” policy requirement, 22 USC § 7631(f), contained in the United States Leadership Act Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003 (the “Leadership Act”).

As you deliberate upon the health care reform bill, we write to urge you to reject provisions that would effectively obstruct access to insurance coverage for abortion and interfere with the ability of women in the United States to make decisions about their own health care.

The harsher sentences for crack cocaine have yielded egregiously severe sentences for low level offenders and unjustifiable racial disparities, as black Americans have borne the brunt of crack cocaine sentences. Reform of federal cocaine sentencing legislation is long overdue.

AB 1017 requires law enforcement agencies in California to report statistics regarding rape kits—including the number of untested rape kits in law enforcement facilities to the California Department of Justice. By passing this bill, California would take a significant step toward eliminating California’s backlog of rape kits.

While officials defend the harsh regime at Tamms as necessary to control “the worst of the worst”—prisoners who violently assault staff or other prisoners—a recent investigative report by the Belleville News-Democrat stated that more than half of all Tamms prisoners have not been convicted of any crime since entering the prison system.