Political Quotes

“I rise to speak about the human rights issue of sexual assault in U.S. prisons, jails, and detention centers-- and the historic release of our country's first-ever national standards to eliminate prison rape. When the government takes people into custody, and puts them behind bars, their human rights become our responsibility. And we are accountable for the results. In studying this issue for nearly a decade, we learned that sexual assault in detention has become an epidemic. It is occurring at the hands of other inmates, and it is occurring at the hands of prison officials whose job it is to protect. We learned that hundreds of thousands of inmates are victims of sexual assault every year. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report released this month, approximately one out of ten former state prisoners reported incidents of sexual victimization during their most recent stay behind bars. Approximately a third of former inmates reported other types of sexual harassment or victimization. Many say these are conservative estimates of those brave enough to report. It is also disturbing that ``prison rape'' has become an accepted part of our culture. We hear people make light of it in jokes, in movies, in television shows. It is a common pop culture reference. This is unacceptable, and it sends the message that this brutal, terrorizing conduct is actually part of a United States prison sentence. As our Supreme Court has said, it is not.…”