IB 
Union Calendar No. 121
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1707
[Report No. 108–219] 
To provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape 
in Federal, State, and local institutions and to provide information, 
resources, recommendations, and funding to protect individuals from 
prison rape. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 9, 2003
Mr. WOLF (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
JULY 18, 2003
Additional sponsors: Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BART-
LETT of Maryland, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. FILNER, Mr. 
GONZALEZ, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Ms. LEE, Mr. 
PITTS, Mr. WEINER, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. 
SOUDER, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. FORBES, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, 
Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. WELDON of 
Florida, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. TERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. 
NADLER, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. COBLE, Mr. STRICKLAND, and Mr. COO-
PER
JULY 18, 2003 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 9, 2003] 
A BILL 
To provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects 
of prison rape in Federal, State, and local institutions 
and to provide information, resources, recommendations, 
and funding to protect individuals from prison rape.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2003’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of this 
Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Purposes. 
Sec. 4. National prison rape statistics, data, and research. 
Sec. 5. Prison rape prevention and prosecution. 
Sec. 6. Grants to protect inmates and safeguard communities. 
Sec. 7. National prison rape reduction commission. 
Sec. 8. Adoption and effect of national standards. 
Sec. 9. Requirement that accreditation organizations adopt accreditation stand-
ards. 
Sec. 10. Definitions.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) 2,100,146 persons were incarcerated in the 
United States at the end of 2001: 1,324,465 in Fed-
eral and State Prisons and 631,240 in county and
local jails. In 1999, there were more than 10,000,000 
separate admissions to and discharges from prisons 
and jails. 
(2) Insufficient research has been conducted and 
insufficient data reported on the extent of prison 
rape. However, experts have conservatively estimated 
that at least 13 percent of the inmates in the United 
States have been sexually assaulted in prison. Many 
inmates have suffered repeated assaults. Under this 
estimate, nearly 200,000 inmates now incarcerated 
have been or will be the victims of prison rape. The 
total number of inmates who have been sexually as-
saulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000. 
(3) Inmates with mental illness are at increased 
risk of sexual victimization. America’s jails and pris-
ons house more mentally ill individuals than all of 
the Nation’s psychiatric hospitals combined. As many 
as 16 percent of inmates in state prisons and jails, 
and 7 percent of Federal inmates, suffer from mental 
illness. 
(4) Young first-time offenders are at increased 
risk of sexual victimization. Juveniles are 5 times 
more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult rather 
than juvenile facilities—often within the first 48 
hours of incarceration.
(5) Most prison staff are not adequately trained 
or prepared to prevent, report, or treat inmate sexual 
assaults. 
(6) Prison rape often goes unreported, and in-
mate victims often receive inadequate treatment for 
the severe physical and psychological effects of sexual 
assault—if they receive treatment at all. 
(7) HIV and AIDS are major public health 
problems within America’s correctional facilities. In 
2000, 25,088 inmates in Federal and State prisons 
were known to be infected with HIV/AIDS. In 2000, 
HIV/AIDS accounted for more than 6 percent of all 
deaths in Federal and State prisons. Infection rates 
for other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, 
and hepatitis B and C are also far greater for pris-
oners than for the American population as a whole. 
Prison rape undermines the public health by contrib-
uting to the spread of these diseases, and often giving 
a potential death sentence to its victims. 
(8) Prison rape endangers the public safety by 
making brutalized inmates more likely to commit 
crimes when they are released—as 600,000 inmates 
are each year. 
(9) The frequently interracial character of prison 
sexual assaults significantly exacerbates interracial
tensions, both within prison and, upon release of per-
petrators and victims from prison, in the community 
at large. 
(10) Prison rape increases the level of homicides 
and other violence against inmates and staff, and the 
risk of insurrections and riots.
(11) Victims of prison rape suffer severe physical 
and psychological effects that hinder their ability to 
integrate into the community and maintain stable 
employment upon their release from prison. They are 
thus more likely to become homeless and/or require 
government assistance. 
(12) Members of the public and government offi-
cials are largely unaware of the epidemic character of 
prison rape and the day-to-day horror experienced by 
victimized inmates. 
(13) The high incidence of sexual assault within 
prisons involves actual and potential violations of the 
United States Constitution. In Farmer v. Brennan, 
511 U.S. 825 (1994), the Supreme Court ruled that 
deliberate indifference to the substantial risk of sexual 
assault violates prisoners’ rights under the Cruel and 
Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amend-
ment. The Eighth Amendment rights of State and 
local prisoners are protected through the Due Process
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pursuant to 
Congress’s power under Section Five of the Fourteenth 
Amendment, Congress may take action to enforce 
those rights in States where officials have dem-
onstrated such indifference. States that do not take 
basic steps to abate prison rape by adopting stand-
ards that do not generate significant additional ex-
penditures demonstrate such indifference. Therefore, 
such States are not entitled to the same level of Fed-
eral benefits as other States. 
(14) The high incidence of prison rape under-
mines the effectiveness and efficiency of United States 
Government expenditures through grant programs 
such as those dealing with health care; mental health 
care; disease prevention; crime prevention, investiga-
tion, and prosecution; prison construction, mainte-
nance, and operation; race relations; poverty; unem-
ployment and homelessness. The effectiveness and effi-
ciency of these Federally funded grant programs are 
compromised by officials’ failure to adopt policies and 
procedure that reduce the incidence of prison rape in 
that the high incidence of prison rape—
(A) increases the costs incurred by Federal, 
State, and local jurisdictions to administer their 
prison systems;
(B) increases the levels of violence, directed 
at inmates and at staff, within prisons; 
(C) increases health care expenditures, both 
inside and outside of prison systems, and reduces 
the effectiveness of disease prevention programs 
by substantially increasing the incidence and 
spread of HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis B 
and C, and other diseases; 
(D) increases mental health care expendi-
tures, both inside and outside of prison systems, 
by substantially increasing the rate of post-trau-
matic stress disorder, depression, suicide, and the 
exacerbation of existing mental illnesses among 
current and former inmates; 
(E) increases the risks of recidivism, civil 
strife, and violent crime by individuals who have 
been brutalized by prison rape; and 
(F) increases the level of interracial tensions 
and strife within prisons and, upon release of 
perpetrators and victims, in the community at 
large. 
(15) The high incidence of prison rape has a sig-
nificant effect on interstate commerce because it in-
creases substantially—
(A) the costs incurred by Federal, State, 
and local jurisdictions to administer their prison 
systems; 
(B) the incidence and spread of HIV, AIDS, 
tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, and other dis-
eases, contributing to increased health and med-
ical expenditures throughout the Nation; 
(C) the rate of post-traumatic stress dis-
order, depression, suicide, and the exacerbation 
of existing mental illnesses among current and 
former inmates, contributing to increased health 
and medical expenditures throughout the Nation; 
and 
(D) the risk of recidivism, civil strife, and 
violent crime by individuals who have been bru-
talized by prison rape. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) establish a zero-tolerance standard for the in-
cidence of prison rape in prisons in the United 
States; 
(2) make the prevention of prison rape a top pri-
ority in each prison system;
(3) develop and implement national standards 
for the detection, prevention, reduction, and punish-
ment of prison rape; 
(4) increase the available data and information 
on the incidence of prison rape, consequently improv-
ing the management and administration of correc-
tional facilities; 
(5) standardize the definitions used for collecting 
data on the incidence of prison rape; 
(6) increase the accountability of prison officials 
who fail to detect, prevent, reduce, and punish prison 
rape; 
(7) protect the Eighth Amendment rights of Fed-
eral, State, and local prisoners; 
(8) increase the efficiency and effectiveness of 
Federal expenditures through grant programs such as 
those dealing with health care; mental health care; 
disease prevention; crime prevention, investigation, 
and prosecution; prison construction, maintenance, 
and operation; race relations; poverty; unemployment; 
and homelessness; and 
(9) reduce the costs that prison rape imposes on 
interstate commerce.
SEC. 4. NATIONAL PRISON RAPE STATISTICS, DATA, AND 
RESEARCH. 
(a) ANNUAL
COMPREHENSIVE
STATISTICAL
RE-
VIEW.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau of Justice Statis-
tics of the Department of Justice (in this section re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Bureau’’) shall carry out, for each 
calendar year, a comprehensive statistical review and 
analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape. 
The statistical review and analysis shall include, but
not be limited to the identification of the common 
characteristics of—
(A) both victims and perpetrators of prison 
rape; and 
(B) prisons and prison systems with a high 
incidence of prison rape. 
(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out para-
graph (1), the Bureau shall consider the following: 
(A) How rape should be defined for the pur-
poses of the statistical review and analysis. 
(B) How the Bureau should collect informa-
tion about staff-on-inmate sexual assault. 
(C) How the Bureau should collect informa-
tion beyond inmate self-reports of prison rape.
(D) How the Bureau should adjust the data 
in order to account for differences among prisons 
as required by subsection (c)(3). 
(E) The categorization of prisons as re-
quired by subsection (c)(4). 
(F) Whether a preliminary study of prison 
rape should be conducted to inform the method-
ology of the comprehensive statistical review. 
(3) SOLICITATION
OF
VIEWS.—The Bureau of 
Justice Statistics shall solicit views from representa-
tives of the following: State departments of correction; 
county and municipal jails; juvenile correctional fa-
cilities; former inmates; victim advocates; researchers; 
and other experts in the area of sexual assault. 
(4) SAMPLING
TECHNIQUES.—The review and 
analysis under paragraph (1) shall be based on a 
random sample, or other scientifically appropriate 
sample, of not less than 10 percent of all Federal, 
State, and county prisons, and a representative sam-
ple of municipal prisons. The selection shall include 
at least one prison from each State. The selection of 
facilities for sampling shall be made at the latest 
practicable date prior to conducting the surveys and 
shall not be disclosed to any facility or prison system 
official prior to the time period studied in the survey.
Selection of a facility for sampling during any year 
shall not preclude its selection for sampling in any 
subsequent year. 
(5) SURVEYS.—In carrying out the review and 
analysis under paragraph (1), the Bureau shall, in 
addition to such other methods as the Bureau con-
siders appropriate, use surveys and other statistical 
studies of current and former inmates from a sample 
of Federal, State, county, and municipal prisons. The 
Bureau shall ensure the confidentiality of each survey 
participant. 
(6) PARTICIPATION IN SURVEY.—Federal, State, 
or local officials or facility administrators that re-
ceive a request from the Bureau under subsection 
(a)(4) or (5) will be required to participate in the na-
tional survey and provide access to any inmates 
under their legal custody. 
(b) REVIEW PANEL ON PRISON RAPE.—
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To assist the Bureau in 
carrying out the review and analysis under subsection 
(a), there is established, within the Department of 
Justice, the Review Panel on Prison Rape (in this 
section referred to as the ‘‘Panel’’). 
(2) MEMBERSHIP.—
(A) COMPOSITION.—The Panel shall be 
composed of 3 members, each of whom shall be 
appointed by the Attorney General, in consulta-
tion with the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services. 
(B) 
QUALIFICATIONS.—Members 
of 
the 
Panel shall be selected from among individuals 
with knowledge or expertise in matters to be 
studied by the Panel. 
(3) PUBLIC HEARINGS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The duty of the Panel 
shall be to carry out, for each calendar year, 
public hearings concerning the operation of the 
three prisons with the highest incidence of prison 
rape and the two prisons with the lowest inci-
dence of prison rape in each category of facilities 
identified under subsection (c)(4). The Panel 
shall hold a separate hearing regarding the three 
Federal or State prisons with the highest inci-
dence of prison rape. The purpose of these hear-
ings shall be to collect evidence to aid in the 
identification of common characteristics of both 
victims and perpetrators of prison rape, and the 
identification of common characteristics of pris-
ons and prison systems with a high incidence of
prison rape, and the identification of common 
characteristics of prisons and prison systems 
that appear to have been successful in deterring 
prison rape. 
(B) TESTIMONY AT HEARINGS.—
(i) PUBLIC
OFFICIALS.—In carrying 
out the hearings required under subpara-
graph (A), the Panel shall request the public 
testimony of Federal, State, and local offi-
cials (and organizations that represent such 
officials), including the warden or director 
of each prison, who bears responsibility for 
the prevention, detection, and punishment 
of prison rape at each entity, and the head 
of the prison system encompassing such 
prison. 
(ii) VICTIMS.—The Panel may request 
the testimony of prison rape victims, orga-
nizations representing such victims, and 
other appropriate individuals and organi-
zations. 
(C) SUBPOENAS.—
(1) ISSUANCE.—The Panel may issue subpoenas 
for the attendance of witnesses and the production of 
written or other matter.
(2) ENFORCEMENT.—In the case of contumacy or 
refusal to obey a subpoena, the Attorney General may 
in a Federal court of appropriate jurisdiction obtain 
an appropriate order to enforce the subpoena. 
(c) REPORTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than June 30 of 
each year, the Attorney General shall submit a report 
on the activities of the Bureau and the Review Panel, 
with respect to prison rape, for the preceding cal-
endar year to—
(A) Congress; and
(B) the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The report required under 
paragraph (1) shall include—
(A) with respect to the effects of prison rape, 
statistical, sociological, and psychological data; 
(B) with respect to the incidence of prison 
rape—
(i) statistical data aggregated at the 
Federal, State, prison system, and prison 
levels; 
(ii) a listing of those institutions in 
the representative sample, separated into 
each category identified under subsection
(c)(4) and ranked according to the incidence 
of prison rape in each institution; and 
(iii) an identification of those institu-
tions in the representative sample that ap-
pear to have been successful in deterring 
prison rape; and 
(C) a listing of any prisons in the rep-
resentative sample that did not cooperate with 
the survey conducted pursuant to section 4. 
(3) DATA ADJUSTMENTS.—In preparing the in-
formation specified in paragraph (2), the Attorney 
General shall use established statistical methods to ad-
just the data as necessary to account for differences 
among institutions in the representative sample, 
which are not related to the detection, prevention, re-
duction and punishment of prison rape, or which are 
outside the control of the of the State, prison, or pris-
on system, in order to provide an accurate compari-
son among prisons. Such differences may include the 
mission, security level, size, and jurisdiction under 
which the prison operates. For each such adjustment 
made, the Attorney General shall identify and explain 
such adjustment in the report. 
(4) CATEGORIZATION OF PRISONS.—The report 
shall divide the prisons surveyed into three categories.
One category shall be composed of all Federal and 
State prisons. The other two categories shall be de-
fined by the Attorney General in order to compare 
similar institutions. 
(d) CONTRACTS AND GRANTS.—In carrying out its du-
ties under this section, the Attorney General may—
(1) provide grants for research through the Na-
tional Institute of Justice; and 
(2) contract with or provide grants to any other 
entity the Attorney General deems appropriate. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are 
authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2004 through 2010 to carry out this section. 
SEC. 5. PRISON RAPE PREVENTION AND PROSECUTION. 
(a) INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE.—
(1) NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE.—There is estab-
lished within the National Institute of Corrections a 
national clearinghouse for the provision of informa-
tion and assistance to Federal, State, and local au-
thorities responsible for the prevention, investigation, 
and punishment of instances of prison rape. 
(2) TRAINING AND EDUCATION.—The National 
Institute of Corrections shall conduct periodic train-
ing and education programs for Federal, State, and