Does my agency have to audit exactly one third of its facilities each year? We are on an ACA audit schedule and ACA does not audit exactly one third of our agencies per year. Do we need to change the auditing schedule to comply with PREA?
Standard 115.401 focuses on audit frequency, timeframes, and specifies, and requires that the agency shall ensure that each facility operated by the agency, or by a private organization on behalf of the agency, is audited at least once during each three-year period. The standards require an audit during each one-year period of at least one-third of each facility type (prison, jail, juvenile facility, overnight lockup, and community confinement facility) operated by an agency or by a private organization on behalf of an agency.
There are two other FAQs that focus on what happens if an agency does not audit exactly one-third of its facilities each year, as follows:
Please click here to read the FAQ that describes what happens to an agency’s three-year audit timeline if it fails to have the required minimum of one-third of its facilities audited by August 19, 2014.
Please click here to read the FAQ that addresses whether there is a time limit to the number of years that a state can submit an Assurance without a reduction in Department of Justice (DOJ) grant funding.
While agencies are not prohibited from coordinating the timing of ACA audits with PREA audits, agencies must audit one-third of each type of facility as specified in Standard 115.401(b), irrespective of the timing of any ACA audit schedule.