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Stacey Davis
English 123
November 22, 2014
Professor Sung
Research Proposal

In 2015 the Bureau of Justice Statistics, released an estimate stating 80,000

women and men are sexually abused in American correction facilities, yearly. This
startling number is the reason there is an attempt to lessen this number, through the
Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which Congress passed in 2003. Over the past
decade, jurisdictions were to be working toward compliance with the PREA. May, of
2015, marked the second reporting year for jurisdictions to show compliance or measures
to become compliant with the PREA. Despite this, there are still two states making
headlines over their refusal to comply: Arizona and Texas.
Last year, Governor Rick Perry of Texas decided to opt out of the PREA
mandate, stating in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that Texas did not need
the unnecessary expense when they already have their own safety program for prisons,
according to Steven Hsieh of The Nation. This is an unfortunate decision, as Texas has
the highest rate of reported sexual assault of all jurisdictions. This year, Texas Governor
Greg Abbott has stated he will make assurances to comply with the PREA, but has faced
resistance from his own staff, reported by New York Times journalist Deborah Sontag. I
plan to discover exactly how Governor Abbott plans to work toward compliance.
Arizona is another jurisdiction which states they simply do not need to comply with the

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PREA standards, as they are already complying, and therefore do not need the additional
funding they would receive in compliance with the PREA. Part of the indifference is in
relation to the amount of money the PREA would grant in the first place. States are
required to use 5% of their prison-related federal grants toward compliance with the
PREA, and at least in Arizona last year, this amounted to a mere loss of just over
$200,000, according to Cronkite News Arizona, and Texas lost over $800,000, according
to the New York Times. It would seem the alternate to compliance simply does not carry
enough of a penalty to matter to government officials who cannot see the harm this
causes their prisoners.
In The American Journal of Sexuality Education, Tammi Tannura explains the
difficulties victims face in healing from a sexual assault. Prisoners are not exempt from
this. Externally, and medically speaking, victims may have injuries from an attack which
may be a short term problem such as a bruise or cut, but may also have to deal with the
reality of contracting an STD or even HIV. Physical ailments are the visible aspect of a
rape, they pale in comparison to the emotional effects a victim will have to come to terms
with, possibly over the course of their lifetime. These emotional symptoms are typically
lumped under the name Rape Trauma Syndrome, which also includes Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder. Rape is not a traumatic event victims heal from rapidly, and it creeps
into all aspects of their lives, physically, mentally, and spiritually, to name a few, and
takes an indeterminate length of time to heal.
Given the breadth of life aspects rape can cover, it would make sense for
jurisdictions to comply with the PREA. Jurisdictions such as Texas and Arizona are
simply looking at the situation from a financial standpoint in the short term, basically

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what they may lose each year. They are not taking into account that individuals who are
sexually assaulted may require greater assistance to heal physically and emotionally,
costing money as well. They also are not taking into account that individuals who have a
greater history of mental health concerns are more likely to seek unhealthy ways of
coping, which may include illegal methods, and further increase the recidivism rate,
thereby landing these individuals in prison once again. In the long run, it would seem to
me that these are worthwhile reasons to comply with the PREA. The main point that
many governing officials seem to be ignoring is an ethical one, why allow anyone to face
such a crime, regardless of their past or current circumstances? Prisoners have rights as
well, stated in the 8th Amendment, that they should not face cruel or unusual punishment.
These reasons are why compliance with the PREA is a necessity in all jurisdictions, Texas
and Arizona included.

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Works Cited
Bopp, Blair A. "Setting a Better Standard: Evaluating Jail Officials' Constitutional Duties
in Preventing the Sexual Assault of Pretrial Detainees." Missouri Law Review
80.2 (2015): 499-517. Print.
Bozelko, Chandra. "Why We Let Prison Rape Go On." New York Times 8 Apr. 2015,
164th ed., Commentary sec.: A19. Print.
Decker, Brett M. "America's Prisons Remain Rife With Rape." USA Today 20 July 2015,
News sec.: 9a. Print.
Garland, Brett, and Gabrielle Wilson. "Prison Inmates Views of Whether Reporting
Rape Is the Same as Snitching: An Exploratory Study and Research Agenda."
Journal of Interpersonal Violence 28.6 (2013): 1201-222. Print.
Hsieh, Steven. "Rick Perry Says Texas Wont Comply With Federal Standards to Curb
Prison Rape." The Nation 2 Apr. 2014. Print.
Reid, Elizabeth A. "The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) and the Importance of
Litigation in Its Enforcement: Holding Guards Who Rape Accountable." Yale
Law Journal 122.7 (2013): 2084-097. Print.
Rowell-Cunsolo, Tawandra, Roderick Harrison, and Rahwa Haile. "Exposure to Prison
Sexual Assault Among Incarcerated Black Men." Journal of African American
Studies 18.1 (2014): 54-62. Print.
Sontag, Deborah. "Push to End Prison Rapes Loses Momentum." New York Times 13
May 2015, 164th ed., Cover Story sec.: A1-A17. Print.
Sontag, Deborah. "U.S. Spars With Texas on Ending Prison Rapes." New York Times 23
May 2015, 164th ed., National Desk sec.: A14. Print.

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Struckman-Johnson, Cindy, and Dave Struckman-Johnson. "Stopping Prison Rape: The
Evolution of Standards Recommended by PREAs National Prison Rape
Elimination Commission." Prison Journal 93.3 (2013): 335-54. Print.
Tannura, Tammi A. "Rape Trauma Syndrome." American Journal of Sexuality Education
9.2 (2014): 247-56. Print.
Wicksman, Nick. "Arizona, Again, Can't Show Compliance with Prison Rape
Elimination Act." Cronkite News. Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass
Communication at Arizona State University, 16 June 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.