Lovisa Stannow and Kathy Hall-Martinez Appointed Co-Executive Directors of Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR)

December 14, 2005

LOS ANGELES – Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR), a national human rights organization dedicated to ending sexual violence behind bars, has appointed two veteran human rights professionals to serve as Co-Executive Directors.

“The appointment of Lovisa Stannow and Kathy Hall-Martinez will add even greater momentum to SPR’s uniquely important work,” said T.J. Parsell, President Elect of SPR’s Board of Directors. “We’re extremely pleased to have both Kathy and Lovisa on board. Their experience and vision will allow SPR to make unprecedented advances in the fight to protect prisoners from sexual violence.”

SPR is the only organization in the country that focuses its work exclusively on the problem of prisoner rape. SPR was instrumental in the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003, the first-ever federal legislation to address sexual abuse in detention. A key aspect of SPR’s work is to monitor the implementation of PREA to ensure that prisons and jails enforce a “zero-tolerance” policy toward prisoner rape.

Ms. Stannow is a journalist who has worked in international human rights and communications for the past two decades, frequently based in war zones and areas of humanitarian disaster. Prior to joining SPR, she served as the Executive Director of the Pacific Institute for Women’s Health and as the West Coast Director of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières. Ms. Stannow joined SPR’s Board of Directors in 2002 and has served as the organization’s Acting/Deputy Executive Director since 2004.

Ms. Hall-Martinez is an international human rights attorney. Before coming to SPR, she was the Director of the International Legal Program at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. In that capacity, she worked with women’s rights advocates worldwide to improve national legislation and to ensure proper implementation of international human rights instruments. Ms. Hall-Martinez currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) and previously was a lawyer in private practice and a law clerk for a federal district court judge in New York.

CONTACT: Andrea Cavanaugh Kern
(213) 384-1400, ext. 106
acavanaugh@spr.org
www.spr.org