The High Costs of Unsafe Prisons
Partner: Just Detention International
Creative Commons photo credit: BiggunBen
Running prisons safely requires a significant investment. But when corners are cut, it can have serious consequences: in 2009, an estimated 65,000 inmates were sexually abused in our nation’s prisons.
There are obvious ethical, constitutional, and human rights concerns with allowing individuals to be harmed while under the custodyof the state. But it can also result in long-term economic problems like higher recidivism, higher health care costs, and mounting litigation expenses, contributing to busting state budgets.
Policy Integrity teamed up with Just Detention International and a coalition of over 50 human rights and criminal justice organizations, to argue for implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The law, passed by Congress in 2003 but lacking any implementing regulation to date, mandates national standards to prevent incidents of sexual violence in all American prisons.
After seven years, the Department of Justice is finally poised to propose a rule. Policy Integrity submitted public comments aimed at ensuring that the Department of Justice adequately measures the economic benefits of strong protections.
To cut down on violence behind bars, administrators must take steps like eliminating cross-gender supervision in high-risk situations, and facilitating prisoner grievances. While some of these steps may have costs, the price of unsafe prisons can easily exceed the cost of providing basic safety. Ignoring the problem is a penny-wise approach that can lead to bigger bills down the road.
Finally, an organization that promotes social justice and that has serious expertise in the federal rulemaking process — including the importance and utility of cost-benefit analyses. Of the more than 600 submissions to the U.S. Department of Justice during its 2010 public comment period on national standards addressing sexual abuse in prison, the Institute of Policy Integrity’s comments were among the most vitally important.
– Lovisa Stannow, Just Detention International
Issue(s): Health and Human Services