Editorial: Grandstanding on Prisons in Texas

Rick Perry, the Republican governor of Texas, is gearing up for the 2016 presidential elections by bellowing about imaginary overreach from Washington and refusing to comply with the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.

The law was approved by Congress with unanimous bipartisan support and signed into law by George W. Bush, Mr. Perry’s predecessor in the governor’s mansion. It requires institutions that receive federal money to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual violence behind bars and use rigorous tactics to prevent it.