II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 657 

To eliminate conditions in foreign prisons and other detention facilities that 

do not meet primary indicators of health, sanitation, and safety, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2013 

Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To eliminate conditions in foreign prisons and other detention facilities that do not meet primary indicators of 

health, sanitation, and safety, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Prison Condi5 tions Improvement Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Millions of incarcerated people in the world 

9 suffer inhumane conditions in prisons and other deVerDate Mar 15 2010 15:58 Mar 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S657.IS S657

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 657 IS

1 tention facilities that are overcrowded, unsanitary, 

2 and unsafe to the point of endangering their lives. 

3 Many governments do not respect the basic right of 

4 all individuals in detention or incarceration to be 

5 treated with humanity and with respect for the in6 herent dignity of the human person. 

7 (2) Rates of malnutrition and death among 

8 prisoners and other detainees far exceed those of the 

9 general population, and medical treatment for seri10 ous illness or injury is, in many instances, non-exist11 ent or grossly inadequate. 

12 (3) Prisons are extremely high-risk environ13 ments for transmitting diseases, particularly HIV 

14 and tuberculosis, and create grave risks to commu15 nities in which released prisoners live; studies esti16 mate that HIV infection rates in prisons in devel17 oping countries can be as much as 50 times higher 

18 than in the general population, and tuberculosis in19 fection rates in prisons are more than 20 times high20 er than in the general population. 

21 (4) These conditions are compounded by severe 

22 overcrowding in prisons and other detention facili23 ties. Excessive pre-trial detention and dysfunctional 

24 justice systems frequently result in prisoners and 

25 other detainees spending years in such conditions beVerDate Mar 15 2010 15:58 Mar 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S657.IS S657

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 657 IS

1 fore their cases are adjudicated. In some countries, 

2 such facilities are filled to capacity many times over 

3 resulting in conditions so cramped that individual 

4 prisoners cannot move without all doing so en 

5 masse. 

6 (5) Experts have documented widespread inhu7 mane prison conditions, including overcrowding, in8 adequate food and water, no access to hygiene prod9 ucts or medical care, juveniles detained with adults, 

10 and denial of visits from family. 

11 (6) Some governments fail to provide even the 

12 most rudimentary sanitation in prisons and other 

13 detention facilities, putting prisoners and other de14 tainees at even greater risk of easily preventable and 

15 often life-threatening diseases. Toilets are few or 

16 non-existent and human waste repositories often are 

17 located among the general prison population, forcing 

18 prisoners to eat, sleep, and live in grossly unsanitary 

19 conditions. 

20 (7) Some governments fail to permit prisoners 

21 and other detainees reasonable contact with family 

22 members or other visitors. Many governments deny 

23 access to certain prisoners and detainees, or do not 

24 provide information about their location, health, and 

25 well-being, leaving them unaccounted for. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 657 IS

1 (8) Inhumane conditions in prisons and other 

2 detention facilities often exist in countries where re3 sources for law enforcement are limited and only a 

4 small fraction of such resources are made available 

5 for the operation and maintenance of prisons and 

6 other detention facilities. Inadequate, misplaced, or 

7 lost records often result in prisoners and other de8 tainees being incarcerated indefinitely because their 

9 cases have never been tried or otherwise adjudicated. 

10 In other cases, poor recordkeeping results in pris11 oners and other detainees being held long after their 

12 sentences have expired. Allocating the relatively 

13 modest resources necessary to provide for the basic 

14 human needs of prisoners and other detainees and to 

15 remediate the inhumane conditions under which 

16 such prisoners are held is often a low priority. 

17 (9) The United States Government currently 

18 provides significant amounts of assistance to coun19 tries whose governments operate prisons and other 

20 detention facilities that, because of their inhumane 

21 conditions, seriously jeopardize the lives of prisoners 

22 and other detainees held under their authority. 

23 (10) The Department of State’s 2011 Country 

24 Reports on Human Rights Practices reported prison 

25 conditions as poor, inhumane, or life threatening in 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 657 IS

1 scores of countries, all of which receive United 

2 States assistance. 

3 (11) On February 14, 2012, a fire at the 

4 Comayagua Prison in Honduras killed 360 pris5 oners. United States officials who investigated the 

6 fire attributed the deaths to severe overcrowding and 

7 poor safety practices. In one overcrowded cell block, 

8 only 4 of 105 prisoners survived. More than half of 

9 the prisoners were pretrial detainees who had never 

10 been convicted of any crime. 

11 (12) In many countries, United States citizens 

12 suffer serious harm and are at risk of death and 

13 mistreatment from being held in prisons and other 

14 detention facilities under inhumane conditions. 

15 (13) The United States Government should use 

16 its influence and resources to ensure that govern17 ments that receive United States assistance do not 

18 operate prisons and other detention facilities under 

19 inhumane conditions. The United States Govern20 ment also should assist countries to eliminate inhu21 mane conditions in prisons and other detention fa22 cilities. 

23 (14) Eliminating inhumane conditions in for24 eign prisons and other detention facilities will 

25 strengthen the rule of law, save lives, and enhance 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 657 IS

1 the health and well-being of vulnerable people in 

2 poor countries, and it will advance United States in3 terests. 

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com8 mittees’’ means— 

9 (A) the Committee on Appropriations and 

10 the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen11 ate; and 

12 (B) the Committee on Appropriations and 

13 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 

14 of Representatives. 

15 (2) PRIMARY INDICATORS FOR THE ELIMI16 NATION OF INHUMANE CONDITIONS IN FOREIGN

17 PRISONS AND OTHER DETENTION FACILITIES.—The 

18 term ‘‘primary indicators for the elimination of inhu19 mane conditions in prisons and other detention fa20 cilities’’ means, with respect to the operation or 

21 maintenance of prisons and other detention facilities 

22 in a foreign country that is a recipient of United 

23 States assistance, the following: 

24 (A) The number of inmates or detainees 

25 held in a facility does not so exceed prison caVerDate Mar 15 2010 15:58 Mar 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S657.IS S657

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 657 IS

1 pacity such that per capita floor space is insuf2 ficient to allow for humane sleeping conditions 

3 and reasonable physical movement. 

4 (B) Human waste facilities are sanitary 

5 and accessible, and human waste is disposed of 

6 regularly and in a sanitary manner. 

7 (C) The lighting, ventilation, temperature, 

8 and physical construction of prisons and other 

9 detention facilities do not seriously endanger 

10 the health and safety of prisoners. 

11 (D) Prisoners and other detainees have ac12 cess to adequate food and potable drinking 

13 water. 

14 (E) Prisoners and other detainees have ac15 cess to essential and emergency medical care. 

16 (F) To the maximum extent practicable, 

17 prisoners and other detainees are allowed reli18 gious observance and materials, and contact 

19 with clergy, family, and friends, by both cor20 respondence and personal visits. 

21 (3) UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE.—The term 

22 ‘‘United States assistance’’ means any non-humani23 tarian assistance furnished to carry out the provi24 sions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

25 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), the Arms Export Control Act 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 657 IS

1 (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.), or the Millennium Chal2 lenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.). 

3 SEC. 4. EFFORTS TO HELP ELIMINATE INHUMANE CONDI4 TIONS IN FOREIGN PRISONS AND OTHER DE5 TENTION FACILITIES. 

6 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

7 (1) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

9 days after the date of the enactment of this 

10 Act, and October 1 every other year thereafter 

11 for a six-year period, the Secretary of State 

12 shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

13 committees a report describing the conditions in 

14 prisons and other detention facilities in at least 

15 30 countries receiving United States assistance 

16 or under sanction by the United States selected 

17 as a result of the Secretary’s determination 

18 that such conditions raise the most serious 

19 human rights or humanitarian concerns. In se20 lecting such countries, the Secretary shall con21 sider only the conditions within each country’s 

22 prisons and detention facilities. 

23 (B) CONTENT.—The report required under 

24 subparagraph (A) shall, for each country, deVerDate Mar 15 2010 15:58 Mar 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S657.IS S657

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 657 IS

1 scribe the conditions that raise human rights 

2 and humanitarian concerns, including— 

3 (i) a detailed and up to date review, 

4 whenever possible, of each of the primary 

5 indicators set forth in section 3(2) and 

6 noting any efforts made to eliminate inhu7 mane conditions as described in paragraph 

8 (2); 

9 (ii) an identification of those coun10 tries, if any, receiving United States assist11 ance, whose governments— 

12 (I) do not meet one or more of 

13 the primary indicators for the elimi14 nation of inhumane conditions in pris15 ons and other detention facilities but 

16 are making significant efforts to com17 ply; and 

18 (II) do not meet one or more of 

19 the primary indicators and are not 

20 making significant efforts to comply; 

21 and 

22 (iii) the steps being taken by the 

23 United States Government to improve con24 ditions in foreign prisons and other deten25 tion facilities. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 657 IS

1 (C) BEST PRACTICES.—The report shall 

2 also include a section on best practices for 

3 achieving the primary indicators. 

4 (2) SIGNIFICANT EFFORTS.—In making deter5 minations under paragraph (1)(A) as to whether the 

6 government of a country is making significant ef7 forts to comply with the primary indicators for the 

8 elimination of inhumane conditions in prisons and 

9 other detention facilities, the Secretary of State shall 

10 consider the extent to which the government of the 

11 country is— 

12 (A) regularly monitoring the conditions of 

13 prisons and other detention facilities under its 

14 authority, including allowing access for inde15 pendent monitors, permitting prisoners and 

16 other detainees to submit complaints without 

17 censorship, cooperating with humanitarian or18 ganizations in eliminating and monitoring inhu19 mane conditions in prisons and other detention 

20 facilities, promptly investigating credible allega21 tions of inhumane conditions, and making infor22 mation concerning conditions and investigations 

23 available to the public and the Secretary of 

24 State; 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
11 

•S 657 IS

1 (B) taking effective steps to eliminate in2 humane conditions in prisons and other deten3 tion facilities, which may include, among other 

4 steps, appointing ombudsmen to serve on behalf 

5 of prisoners and other detainees, providing al6 ternatives to incarceration for nonviolent of7 fenders in order to alleviate inhumane over8 crowding, addressing the status and cir9 cumstances of confinement of juveniles, improv10 ing pretrial detention practices, and imple11 menting bail and recordkeeping procedures to 

12 reduce pretrial detention periods and to ensure 

13 that prisoners do not serve beyond the max14 imum sentence for the charged offense; and 

15 (C) increasing the amount of government 

16 resources to eliminate inhumane conditions in 

17 prisons and other detention facilities. 

18 (3) USE OF COUNTRY REPORTS.—The report 

19 required under paragraph (1) may draw from the 

20 discussion of prison conditions contained in the 

21 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices re22 quired under sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the 

23 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

24 2151n(d) and 2304(b)). 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
12 

•S 657 IS

1 (4) PUBLICATION.—The report required under 

2 paragraph (1) shall be made available to the public, 

3 including on a publicly available website of the De4 partment of State. 

5 (b) ASSISTANCE FOR GOVERNMENTS TO ELIMINATE

6 INHUMANE CONDITIONS IN PRISONS AND OTHER DETEN7 TION FACILITIES.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and 

9 the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

10 International Development should furnish assistance 

11 for the purpose of eliminating inhumane conditions 

12 in prisons and other detention facilities where such 

13 assistance would be appropriate and beneficial. 

14 (2) INAPPLICABILITY OF PROHIBITION.—The 

15 prohibitions under section 660 of the Foreign Assist16 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2420) shall not be ap17 plicable to assistance furnished to carry out the pro18 visions of paragraph (1). 

19 (3) ASSISTANCE.—Assistance made available 

20 under this subsection shall be designated and used 

21 exclusively to eliminate inhumane conditions in pris22 ons and other detention facilities in the country re23 ceiving the grant, but may not include the construc24 tion of new prisons. Funds made available under 

25 this section shall be subject to the regular notificaVerDate Mar 15 2010 15:58 Mar 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S657.IS S657

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
13 

•S 657 IS

1 tion procedures of the Committees on Appropriations 

2 of the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

3 (c) CONSULTATIONS WITH GOVERNMENTS NOT

4 MAKING SIGNIFICANT EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE INHU5 MANE CONDITIONS IN PRISONS AND OTHER DETENTION

6 FACILITIES.— 

7 (1) CONSULTATIONS.—In the case of a govern8 ment of a country that is listed in the report sub9 mitted under subsection (a)(1)(B)(ii)(II) as not 

10 making significant efforts to eliminate inhumane 

11 conditions in prisons and other detention facilities, 

12 the Secretary of State shall, not later than 90 days 

13 after the date such report is submitted, enter into 

14 consultations with such government to achieve the 

15 purposes of this Act. 

16 (2) ACTIONS REGARDING UNITED STATES AS17 SISTANCE.— 

18 (A) UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE.—The 

19 Secretary of State and the Administrator of the 

20 United States Agency for International Devel21 opment may restructure, reprogram, or reduce 

22 United States assistance for a government de23 scribed in paragraph (1) to achieve the pur24 poses of this Act. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
14 

•S 657 IS

1 (B) REPORTING.—If assistance is provided 

2 to a country whose government is described in 

3 paragraph (1), the Secretary of State shall sub4 mit to the appropriate congressional committees 

5 within 30 days of the decision to provide such 

6 assistance a report— 

7 (i) explaining that any government 

8 agency or facility to receive assistance has 

9 the independence and commitment nec10 essary to achieve the purposes of this Act; 

11 (ii) detailing the purposes for which 

12 such assistance will be provided; 

13 (iii) describing the United States in14 terest in providing such assistance notwith15 standing the failure of the government to 

16 make significant efforts to eliminate inhu17 mane conditions; and 

18 (iv) describing the conditions in pris19 ons and other detention facilities in such 

20 country unless this information has already 

21 been included in the report required under 

22 section 4(a)(1). 

23 (3) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after 

24 the beginning of consultations required under para25 graph (1), the Secretary shall brief the appropriate 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
15 

•S 657 IS

1 congressional committees on the actions taken or 

2 agreed to be taken, if any, by the government of 

3 that country that constitute significant efforts to 

4 eliminate inhumane conditions in prisons and other 

5 detention facilities and the actions taken, or that will 

6 be taken, by the United States pursuant to para7 graph (2). Such information shall also be included in 

8 the next report required under subsection (a). If the 

9 Secretary determines that United States assistance 

10 to such government should not be restructured, re11 programmed, or reduced, the briefing and report 

12 shall contain an explanation for that decision. 

13 SEC. 5. TRAINING FOR FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS. 

14 Section 708 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 

15 U.S.C. 4028) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(d) The Secretary of State, with the assistance of 

18 other relevant officials, shall establish as part of the stand19 ard training provided for chiefs of mission, deputy chiefs 

20 of mission, and other officers of the Service who are or 

21 will be involved in the assessment of conditions in foreign 

22 prisons and other detention facilities or the drafting of the 

23 annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, in24 struction on matters related to conditions in such prisons 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
16 

•S 657 IS

1 and other detention facilities and the substance of the 

2 Foreign Prison Conditions Improvement Act of 2013.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. OFFICIAL TO MONITOR FOREIGN PRISON CONDI4 TIONS. 

5 The Secretary of State shall designate, within the 

6 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, an offi7 cial at a minimum level of a Deputy Assistant Secretary 

8 who shall have responsibility for implementing the provi9 sions of this Act, which shall be a substantial part of such 

10 official’s responsibilities. The Secretary shall instruct rel11 evant United States officials abroad to assist such official 

12 in gathering information regarding conditions in foreign 

13 prisons and other detention facilities and in implementing 

14 the provisions of this Act. 

15 SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

16 For purposes of this Act and any amendment made 

17 by this Act— 

18 (1) the prohibitions of section 104(f) of the 

19 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

20 2151b(f)) shall apply to all provisions of this Act 

21 and any amendment made by this Act and shall not 

22 be construed to be altered by this Act; and 

23 (2) the primary indicators for the elimination of 

24 inhumane conditions in foreign prisons and other de25 tention facilities, as well as significant efforts and 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
17 

•S 657 IS

1 best practices to achieve such indicators, shall not be 

2 determined based on the provision of services for 

3 which funding is prohibited by section 104(f) of the 

4 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

5 2151b(f)). 

Æ 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS