Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 117.djvu/993

 117 STAT. 974

PUBLIC LAW 108–79—SEPT. 4, 2003 maintenance, and operation; race relations; poverty; unemployment and homelessness. The effectiveness and efficiency of these federally funded grant programs are compromised by the failure of State officials to adopt policies and procedures 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 expenditures, both inside and outside of prison systems, by substantially increasing the rate of post-traumatic 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 significant effect on interstate commerce because it increases 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 diseases, contributing to increased health and medical expenditures throughout the Nation; (C) the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder, 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 brutalized by prison rape.

42 USC 15602.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

The purposes of this Act are to— (1) establish a zero-tolerance standard for the incidence of prison rape in prisons in the United States; (2) make the prevention of prison rape a top priority in each prison system; (3) develop and implement national standards for the detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment of prison rape; (4) increase the available data and information on the incidence of prison rape, consequently improving the management and administration of correctional facilities; (5) standardize the definitions used for collecting data on the incidence of prison rape;

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