Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 - Support and Lobby

Support and Lobby

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 was supported by a broad base of activists, lobbyists, and organizations, particularly Just Detention International. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission lobbied for the passage of the legislation as did the conservative organization Concerned Women for America. These groups were part of a diverse coalition of human rights and religious groups which backed the legislation; other groups which supported the act were: Amnesty International USA, Focus on the Family, Human Rights Watch, the NAACP, the National Association of Evangelicals, Penal Reform International, Physicians for Human Rights, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Salvation Army and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

The bill was sponsored, in both houses of the U.S. Congress, by a bipartisan group of legislators. The initial sponsors of the bill in the Senate were Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and, in the House of Representatives the legislation was sponsored by Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), who was the initial co-sponsor. The Senate bill picked up four co-sponsors on the day it was passed, they were: Senators Mike Dewine (R-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). The house bill had a total of 32 co-sponsors, including Scott. The bill passed both the House and Senate by unanimous consent; it passed the Senate on July 21, 2003, and the House on July 25.