Training
Standard 115.31/115.131/115.231/115.331 requires agencies to train all employees who have contact with inmates/detainees/residents on specific topics related to sexual abuse and sexual harassment. Agencies must provide refresher training every two years. Standard 115.32/115.132/115.232/115.332 requires agencies to train all volunteers and contractors who have contact with inmates/detainees/residents on their responsibilities under the agency’s sexual abuse and sexual harassment policies and procedures. Under the standards, agencies may tailor the level and type of training provided to volunteers and contractors based on how much contact they have with inmates/detainees/residents.
Recognizing that conducting investigations of sexual abuse in confinement settings requires specialized knowledge and skills, Standard 115.34/115.134/115.234/115.334 mandates specialized training for agency investigators that conduct those investigations. The standard requires training on techniques for interviewing sexual abuse victims, proper use of Miranda and Garrity warnings, sexual abuse evidence collection in confinement settings, and the criteria and evidence required to substantiate a case for administrative action or prosecution referral. Standard 115.35/115.235/115.335 similarly requires specialized training for medical and mental health care practitioners in prisons, jails, community confinement facilities, and juvenile facilities. Such practitioners are required to be trained on how to detect and assess signs of sexual abuse and sexual harassment, how to preserve physical evidence of sexual abuse, how to respond to victims, and how and to whom to report allegations and suspicions of sexual abuse and sexual harassment.