Recognizing the 20th Anniversary of the Prison Rape Elimination Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge that 20 years ago, on September 4, 2003, President George W. Bush signed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, into law. This law recognized the difficult truth of rampant and completely unacceptable sexual abuse of people in our jails, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities, and endeavored to address it. PREA sought to end these abuses by creating research mandates, promulgating National standards, and providing grant funding to meet those standards.

Ending prisoner rape remains one of the increasingly rare topics on which people on both sides of the aisle can continue to agree. I joined forces with my Virginia colleague, Congressman Frank Wolf, to sponsor the bill in this chamber, and Senators Ted Kennedy and Jeff Sessions sponsored PREA in the Senate. PREA passed with unanimous support in both the House and Senate. Fighting against institutional abuse and protecting those who cannot advocate for themselves should never be a partisan issue, and I have been gratified by the coalition of support PREA has inspired over the years.

Since PREA's passage, we've seen dramatic improvements in how adults and children in detention are treated. Thousands of corrections professionals have been hired and trained to ensure the safety of people in their custody through the implementation of PREA's National standards. The U.S. Department of Justice is now required to gather data on sexual abuse in custody that provides corrections facilities, advocates and policymakers with invaluable information on the dynamics of sexual abuse in detention, and how it can be stopped.

Hundreds of thousands of incarcerated people are educated every year about their right to be safe and respected, and how to speak out if they are not. Incarcerated people, their families, and advocates now have more effective methods of reporting sexual abuse, as evidenced by the dramatic increase in the number of reports we have seen since PREA's enactment. This is a clear sign that incarcerated survivors understand that people care about their experiences, that they have mechanisms to advocate for themselves, and that their voices should no longer go unheard. Through these efforts and sustained support for survivors, the stigma of reporting abuse has been steadily eroding since PREA's passage.

I also want to acknowledge the broad-based coalition of advocates and civil rights groups that fought to pass PREA, encourage corrections facilities to implement PREA's National standards, and continue to ensure that the law lives up to its intended purpose and promise. Specifically, people who have endured this abuse have been on the front lines of the effort to make our prisons and jails places where people are free of sexual abuse. Just Detention International's Survivor Council deserves special mention. These courageous survivors have fought tirelessly to ensure that no one ever has to face abuse and to instill in all of us the principle that no matter what crime a person has committed, rape is not part of the penalty.

The work we set out to do with PREA is by no means over. Rape in prisons is still far too common. And young people, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and people who come from communities of color are more affected by this crisis than others. The recent cases of staff sexual abuse in California at the Federal Correctional Institution Dublin (FCI-Dublin) at the highest levels expose and illustrate the impunity with which many staff perpetrators still operate. Making things worse, the dozens of women at FCI-Dublin who were abused could not initially get support services. This highlights a larger problem of a lack of resources for community service providers.

Prisons, jails, and youth detention facilities nationwide must commit to implementing the National Prison Rape Elimination Act standards. This doesn't mean merely changing policies as they're written on paper. It means meaningfully adopting those policies and shifting the culture on the ground in detention facilities. This encompasses everything from safer reporting procedures for survivors to stronger investigations after an assault occurs. We must empower staff to identify signs that incarcerated people are being abused, and to identify red flags in staff behavior that could result in abuse. We must also have more confidential emotional support services in prisons, especially from community providers, so that survivors can get the help they deserve. And finally, we must end the culture of impunity and the code of silence among staff which allows abuse to flourish. As I have before, I call on the Department of Justice to work vigorously to ensure that every state implements PREA to protect all inmates from sexual violence.

Mr. Speaker, on the 20th anniversary of its enactment, let us take this moment to recognize the ways that PREA marked an important shift in how we, as a country, deal with this violence. Sexual abuse in detention may not be a secret epidemic anymore, but it is incumbent upon us to actualize the goal set out in this historic law and end this crisis, once and for all. Let me say again: rape is not part of the penalty.

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