Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress makes the following findings: Millions of incarcerated people in the world suffer inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention facilities that are overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe to the point of endangering their lives. Many governments do not respect the basic right of all individuals in detention or incarceration to be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. Rates of malnutrition and death among prisoners and other detainees far exceed those of the general population, and medical treatment for serious illness or injury is, in many instances, non-existent or grossly inadequate.

Prisons are extremely high-risk environments for transmitting diseases, particularly HIV and tuberculosis, and create grave risks to communities in which released prisoners live; studies estimate that HIV infection rates in prisons in developing countries can be as much as 50 times higher than in the general population, and tuberculosis infection rates in prisons are more than 20 times higher than in the general population. These conditions are compounded by severe overcrowding in prisons and other detention facilities.

Excessive pre-trial detention and dysfunctional justice systems frequently result in prisoners and other detainees spending years in such conditions before their cases are adjudicated. In some countries, such facilities are filled to capacity many times over resulting in conditions so cramped that individual prisoners cannot move without all doing so en masse. Experts have documented widespread inhumane prison conditions, including overcrowding, inadequate food and water, no access to hygiene products or medical care, juveniles detained with adults, and denial of visits from family.

Some governments fail to provide even the most rudimentary sanitation in prisons and other detention facilities, putting prisoners and other detainees at even greater risk of easily preventable and often life-threatening diseases. Toilets are few or non-existent and human waste repositories often are located among the general prison population, forcing prisoners to eat, sleep, and live in grossly unsanitary conditions. Some governments fail to permit prisoners and other detainees reasonable contact with family members or other visitors.

Many governments deny access to certain prisoners and detainees, or do not provide information about their location, health, and well-being, leaving them unaccounted for. Inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention facilities often exist in countries where resources for law enforcement are limited and only a small fraction of such resources are made available for the operation and maintenance of prisons and other detention facilities. Inadequate, misplaced, or lost records often result in prisoners and other detainees being incarcerated indefinitely because their cases have never been tried or otherwise adjudicated.

In other cases, poor recordkeeping results in prisoners and other detainees being held long after their sentences have expired. Allocating the relatively modest resources necessary to provide for the basic human needs of prisoners and other detainees and to remediate the inhumane conditions under which such prisoners are held is often a low priority. The United States Government currently provides significant amounts of assistance to countries whose governments operate prisons and other detention facilities that, because of their inhumane conditions, seriously jeopardize the lives of prisoners and other detainees held under their authority.

The Department of State's 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices reported prison conditions as poor, inhumane, or life threatening in scores of countries, all of which receive United States assistance. On February 14, 2012, a fire at the Comayagua Prison in Honduras killed 360 prisoners. United States officials who investigated the fire attributed the deaths to severe overcrowding and poor safety practices. In one overcrowded cell block, only 4 of 105 prisoners survived.

More than half of the prisoners were pretrial detainees who had never been convicted of any crime. In many countries, United States citizens suffer serious harm and are at risk of death and mistreatment from being held in prisons and other detention facilities under inhumane conditions. The United States Government should use its influence and resources to ensure that governments that receive United States assistance do not operate prisons and other detention facilities under inhumane conditions.

The United States Government also should assist countries to eliminate inhumane conditions in prisons and other detention facilities. Eliminating inhumane conditions in foreign prisons and other detention facilities will strengthen the rule of law, save lives, and enhance the health and well-being of vulnerable people in poor countries, and it will advance United States interests.