By Victoria Durgin
Contributing Writer
The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was the topic of a talk presented by the Arlin M. Adams Center for Law and Society at Susquehanna.
The “Power, Promise, and Peril of Law” lecture took place in Fayer Lecture Hall Thursday, Sept. 13.
Valerie Jenness, professor in crimonology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine and Julie Abbate, the National Advocacy Director for Just Detention International, were the speakers headlining this lecture. Jenness and Abbate, spoke about the PREA and its’ implications.
The first half of the program featured Jenness and focused on the PREA law itself and the promises it made.
Abbate took the latter half of the lecture to discuss the implementation of the law and the work that must still be done on rape in prisons.
“True change can only come through cultural change. Both women used a visual presentation and the work of other professionals to present information throughout the night. Jenness opened the lecture with two views of law: the optimistic view that formal law can change culture, and the pessimistic view that law often falls short of actually causing real change. The presentation then briefly summarized the history of sexual prison assault in America.
According to Jenness, in the late 1800s sexual assault and abuse in prisons was already known and considered to be a moral issue by a group of religious leaders.
In 2003 President George W. Bush signed the PREA into law after a bipartisan effort to pass reform into law.
PREA promised many objectives and successes, according to Jenness. The law’s goal is to bring about the “elimination, reduction, and prevention sexual assault within the corrections system.”
The law established a national commission and data collection system to handle allegations by inmates.
After she outlined what exactly PREA is, Jenness then presented to the audience why, according to her studies and opinions, PREA was able to pass in the first place.
The discussion turned from the law to the victim as the professor outlined survivor testimonials and the findings of prison advocacy groups to describe the fear and pain inmates across the country faced. After this, Jenness talked about the religious, moral, public health, safety, and human rights implications of the treatment of prisoners.
She also related the concept of prison sexual abuse to the wider debate surrounding sexual harassment.
She pointed out how willing people are to discuss and help college students, for example, and how unwilling society is to treat prisoners with the same attitude.
Abbate then took over the lecture to discuss the implementation of PREA.
She began her presentation with an overview of criminal and civil law as well as a summary of the language within PREA itself.
Abbate was a member of the working group established by the DOJ to set standards for prisons under PREA law, a process she described as the “most frustrating, most fulfilling process.”
Abbate then highlighted the successes and failures of the law.
According to Abbate while PREA has been successful in increasing the awareness of prison rape and support for survivors, it has not done nearly enough to create enforcement procedures for the act.
The presentation culminated with a connection to the title of the event.
Abbate defined the “power” of law as its connection to and influence over people.
The law- PREA specifically, but all law generally- applies to a large amount of people, explained Abbate.
The “promise” of law is that it does hold some success in changing culture.
Abbate showed the “peril” of law through the failures of PREA; complaints have not lead to investigations, and the law has not lead to substantial change.
Abbate closed her portion of the lecture by touching on the complexity of change. After Abbate finished the lecture turned to a question and answer segment with the audience members.
During this time, both speakers told the audience they believe that prisoners today generally feel “better” now than they did before PREA was passed in 2003.
Jenness referred to the change in attitude as “stunning.”
Abbate said women and most prisoners overall feel safer than they did previously.
The Q and A also discussed the safety of people in immigrant detention centers.
Both speakers voiced concern for the safety of detainees, but did not have specific data on current problems within centers.
