Texas and other states continue to refuse federal government mandated crackdown on prison rape

[davidn3600]

Texas prison inmates report being raped at some of the highest rates in the country, and the problem only seems to be worsening: The three most recent reports issued by the U.S. Department of Justice show stubbornly high levels of reported sexual assault.

But late last month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder signaling that he'd rather lose federal funds for corrections than comply with new rules under the Prison Rape Elimination Act requiring states to substantially improve detection and prevention of sexual assaults in prisons.

"Washington has taken an opportunity to help address a problem in our prisons and jails, but instead created a counterproductive and unnecessarily cumbersome and costly regulatory mess for the states," Perry said of the regulations.

http://www.propublica.org/article/sentenced-to-wait-efforts-to-end-prison-rape-stall-again

The Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed unanimously in Congress in 2003. It's still not implemented to this day because the DOJ refuses to penalize the states and the states say they would rather lose the money than comply.

[pipoman]

1. Have any states complied? Have any been successful?

It could be dramatically reduced simply by not putting any nonviolent offenders with violent offenders, then diligently prosecuting and segregating those who do violence on other inmates. It would likely reduce gang involvement too.