“Stop Prisoner Rape”

Constituency

SPR's constituency includes the more than 2 million men, women, and minors incarcerated in the United States in prison, jail, and INS detention, a population drawn disproportionately from low-income groups [Page 933]and marginalized racial and ethnic minorities. SPR opposes all forms of sexual violence in detention, including the much-neglected problem of prisoneron-prisoner rape in men's facilities as well as the sexual abuse of women that is typically committed by guards and other corrections officers. Children in detention are also extremely vulnerable to abuse, and as states try growing numbers of juveniles as adults, the risk of sexual abuse becomes much greater. With survivors of prisoner rape on its board of directors, SPR remains in close contact with its constituency, and its work seeks to address their concerns.

SPR believes that prisoner rape affects society beyond prison. Upon release, rape survivors may bring with them emotional scars, sexually transmitted infections, and learned violent behavior that continues the cycle of harm.

Programs

In the course of its work, SPR has identified several systemic problems that create or exacerbate conditions that promote sexual violence inside prisons: widespread indifference, a code of silence that allows abuse to go unchecked, few guidelines or incentives for sound policy, and a lack of posttrauma services for survivors. SPR's current programs are designed to address these serious systemic problems through advocacy, education, and outreach.

Speaking Out

For more than 20 years, SPR has been an outspoken voice for reform when few others have had the courage. In 1993, SPR submitted an amicus brief in the case of Farmer v. Brennan (1994), now the controlling U.S. Supreme Court precedent on prisoner rape. SPR has also helped survivors file damage claims, provided referrals for expert testimony, and encouraged class action suits against negligent institutions. Through the Prison Rape Education Project, SPR has distributed prevention material to inmates as well as corrections staff.

Recent Accomplishments

• Federal Legislation Advocacy Project. For the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002, SPR pushed legislators toward admitting the oral testimony of Bob Dumond, an expert from SPR's Board of Advisors, and Linda Bruntmyer, a mother of a victim of prisoner rape. In response to a request from Senator Edward Kennedy's office, SPR submitted analysis of early drafts of the legislation as well as written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee once the act was drafted.
• The 7Up campaign. SPR made national headlines by succeeding to convince 7UP to pull a multimillion dollar ad campaign that made jokes about rape in prison.
• “Not Part of the Penalty: Ending Prisoner Rape” conference. Along with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the ACLU National Prison Project, and others, SPR hosted the first national conference on prisoner rape, attended by nearly 100 lawyers, academics, and activists. There SPR built a listserv, which provides more than 200 subscribers with relevant, up-to-date information about rape in detention.
• http://www.spr.org. SPR's expanded Web site now generates more than 100,000 page views each month and hosts a legal research tool, press page, news articles, survivor stories, and appeals for action.
• Legal research tool. SPR created a comprehensive catalog of federal case law, law review articles, and legislation, as well as a nationwide listing of the correctional systems' policies on sexual abuse.

Conclusion

For more than 20 years, SPR has provided information and encouragement to survivors of prisoner rape and has worked to publicize the fact that sexual assault plagues numerous detention institutions. SPR will continue to employ education, outreach, and advocacy to combat the systematic horror of prisoner rape.

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