United States

LINKS

News articles and editorials

Stuart Dye, "Prison rape taunt contributed to man's suicide," New Zealand Herald, June 12, 2004

"Rapist reveals his own prison rape hell," Independent Online (South Africa), February 18, 2004

"No charges filed against 49 inmates in prison rape case," Star Telegram, February 8, 2004

Wendy McElroy, "Confronting Prison Rape," September 16, 2003

Chuck Colson, "Jesus' Special Interest: Prison Rape and the Law," Townhall.com, September 4, 2003

Editorial, "Preventing Prison Rape," St. Petersburg Times, August 29, 2003

Steve J.B., "Prison Bitch," CounterPunch, August 1, 2003

Joanne Mariner, "Stopping Prison Rape," FindLaw.com, July 28, 2003

Jonathan E. Kaplan, "Liberals, conservatives jointly target prison rape," The Hill, July 23, 2003

Reginald A. Wilkinson, "Federal prison rape law is not needed," Cincinnati Enquirer, December 26, 2002

Linda Chavez, "The Prison Rape Reduction Act," GOPUSA, July 2, 2003

Eli Lehrer, The Most-Silent Crime, NRO, April 29, 2003

Pat Nolan, Prison Rape - It's No Joke, Washington Times, September 6, 2002 (scroll down)

Alan Elsner, Congress issues a wake-up call on inmate rape, Detroit Free Press, August 1, 2002

Alan Elsner, Lawmakers Call Prison Rape U.S. Human Rights Abuse, Reuters, July 31, 2002

Steve Mitchell, Prison rapes spreading deadly diseases, UPI, July 26, 2002

Ted Olsen, Prison Rape Is No Joke, Christianity Today, July 8, 2002

Joanne Mariner, Preventing Prison Rape, FindLaw.com, June 24, 2002

Eli Lehrer, No Joke: Prison rape is finally taken seriously, NRO, June 20, 2002

Sabrina Qutb and Lara Stemple, Selling a Soft Drink, Surviving a Hard Time: Just What Part of Prison Rape do you Find Amusing?, San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 2002

Emily Huber, 7-Up Bubbles Over Prison Rape, MotherJones.com, May 13, 2002 (scroll down)

Vivian Berger, Sentenced to Rape, CounterPunch, February 6, 2002

Neve Gordon, Rape used as control in U.S. prisons, National Catholic Reporter, September 14, 2001

Steve Chapman, The Hidden, Accepted Horror of our Prisons, Townhall.com, June 7, 2001

Sasha Gear, An uncomfortable, unspeakable truth, Mail & Guardian (South Africa), May 25, 2001

Lisa Sandberg, Sexual attacks in Texas prisons seldom prosecuted, San Antonio Express-News, May 24, 2001

Philip Weiss, Uncovered Prison Rapes Show Failure of Media, New York Observer, April 30, 2001

The toll of prison rape, Toledo Blade, April 27, 2001

Jane Eisner, Inmate rape is the dirty secret of a nation obsessed with jails, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 26, 2001

Cruel and Usual, Washington Post, April 23, 2001

Rape in Prison, New York Times, April 22, 2001 (registration req'd)

Anthony Lewis, A Test of Civilization, New York Times, April 21, 2001 (registration req'd)

Joanne Mariner, Not Part of the Penalty, FindLaw.com, April 19, 2001

Tamar Lewin, Little Sympathy or Remedy for Inmates Who Are Raped, New York Times, April 15, 2001 (registration req'd)

Tracy Farran, Worst nightmare: Prison rape, Daily Mail and Guardian (Johannesburg, South Africa), May 22, 2000

Mary Rose Liverani, Prisoner rape not "inevitable," Law Society Journal (New South Wales, Australia), September 1999

Christian Parenti, Rape as a disciplinary tactic, Salon.com, August 23, 1999

Related sites

Stop Prisoner Rape, an organization committed to combating the rape of male and female prisoners and to helping survivors of jailhouse rape.

ACLU National Prison Project, a project of the American Civil Liberties Union that seeks to create constitutional conditions of confinement and strengthen prisoners’ rights through class action litigation and public education.

CURE, an organization seeking to promote the fair and humane treatment of prisoners, and far less reliance on incarceration as a response to crime.

Prison Law Page, contains articles and other information with regard to criminal justice issues in California.

Prison Legal News, a monthly journal that covers prison-related news and analysis from across the country and around the world.

Court cases

Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) (only Supreme Court case involving rape in prison)

Mervin v. Furlong, No. 99-1135 (10th Cir. 2000)

Spruce v. Sargent, 149 F. 3d 783 (8th Cir. 1998)

K.F.P. v. Dane County, 110 F.3d 516 (7th Cir. 1997)

Langston v. Peters, 100 F.3d 1235 (7th Cir. 1996)

Billman v. Indiana Department of Corrections, 56 F. 3d 785 (7th Cir. 1995)

United States v. Bailey, 44 U.S. 394 (1980) (coercive conditions no defense to prosecution of inmates for escape from jail)

    See the dissent by Justice Blackmun: "A youthful inmate can expect to be subjected to homosexual gang rape his first night in jail, or, it has been said, even in the van on the way to jail. Weaker inmates become the property of stronger prisoners or gangs, who sell the sexual services of the victim. Prison officials either are disinterested in stopping abuse of prisoners by other prisoners or are incapable of doing so, given the limited resources society allocates to the prison system."

Legislation and policies

Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, Public Law 108-79

Statement of Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the introduction of the Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002, June 13, 2002

Senate Floor Statement of Senator Jeff Sessions on prison rape reform, June 13, 2002

Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice, Program Statement, Sexual Abuse/Assault Prevention and Intervention Programs, CPD No. 5324.04 (December 31, 1997)

Florida, Protection Against Sexual Violence in Florida Jails and Prisons Act, Senate Bill 226; Senate staff analysis of bill (PDF file)

San Francisco Sheriff's Department, Policy and Procedure on Sexual Assault, Procedure No. F-04 (September 19, 1997)




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