Left-Right Coalition Presses US on Prison Rape

The issue of prison rape—and the Justice Department's delay in addressing it—has brought together an unusual coalition of conservative and progressive groups, the Huffington Post reports. Focus on the Family and the American Conservative Union joined the ACLU and George Soros' Open Society Policy Center yesterday in calling on Eric Holder to enact new standards mandated by a government panel. They were supposed to be in place this June, but the attorney general has told Congress he needs more time.

With 60,000 prisoners raped per year by fellow inmates or guards, Holder's request is tantamount to "asking for time so that another 60,000 can be raped," said ACU chief David Keene. The ACLU's Margaret Winter agrees: "We can't tolerate the attitude that it is inconvenient to do what's necessary to stop the problem today, before we rack up thousands of more victims."
(More rape stories.)