Just Detention International to Testify at House Judiciary Subcommittee Meeting

Washington, DC, July 7, 2009. The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) has stimulated significant advances in the effort to end sexual violence in detention, particularly with the recent release of binding national standards addressing this type of abuse. Despite such progress, however, further action is needed to ensure inmate safety.

At a hearing tomorrow, July 8, before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, JDI will call on Congress to take further action in protecting inmates from sexual abuse, by amending the Prison Litigation Reform Act and by ensuring that the standards developed under PREA are ratified swiftly and without being diluted.

JDI East Coast Program Director Melissa Rothstein will testify, along with the Chairman of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton; Lisa Freeman, attorney with the Prisoners Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society of New York; Sean Kenyon, partner at Hoeppner, Wagner & Evans LLP; and the Director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Jon Ozmint.

The hearing will take place at 3:00 p.m. in room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

To read JDI’s testimony to the Subcommittee, click here.

To learn more about the standards, read JDI’s latest Action Update and the Issue Brief authored by JDI’s Executive Director and East Coast Program Director.

For more information, please contact Melissa Rothstein at 202.580.6971 or mrothstein@justdetention.org.