DOJ Threatens to Withhold Grants from States That Aren’t Protecting Prisoners from Rape

The Justice Department is threatening to withhold grant money from states if they don’t comply with federal standards intended to reduce prison rape. In a letter sent Wednesday to the governors of all 50 states, Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, who heads DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs, wrote that eliminating prison rape is a priority “because we believe that sexual abuse is a crime, and should not be the punishment for a crime.”