Library

The PRC is pleased to release a new publication entitled “Model Policy: Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex (TGNCI) Youth in Confinement Facilities.” The PREA standards explicitly protect TGNCI youth due to their extreme vulnerability to sexual assault and mistreatment. The relevant standards govern a range of practices, including risk assessment, housing and classification, searches, and privacy. This new publication offers practical policies that operationalize the standards and provide clear guidance to facility staff about promoting the safety and well-being of TGNCI residents.

The model policy was funded by PRC through a mini-grant to the National Center for Lesbian Rights in collaboration with the Center for Children's Law and Policy with a diverse group of justice stakeholders.

The PREA Management Office (PMO) within the Bureau of Justice Assistance at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has developed a PREA Auditor Handbook to articulate the requirements of DOJ PREA auditor certification, establish standards of ethical auditor conduct, detail a rigorous, practice-based audit methodology, hold auditors accountable for high standards of audit quality and integrity, and provide transparency to key stakeholders regarding the PREA audit process and expectations of auditors.

The PREA Auditor Handbook covers the following core topics: 

• Auditing contracts and compensation
• Code of conduct governing auditors
• Conflicts of interest
• Process for becoming a DOJ-certified PREA auditor
• Requirements for maintaining DOJ PREA auditor certification
• Auditor’s role and the PREA audit process
• The PMO’s oversight of the PREA audit function
• Maintaining, losing, or giving up certification
• Auditor resources

In addition to the topics listed above, the PREA Auditor Handbook includes the Auditor Certification Agreement, which outlines the requirements of auditor conduct and the principles to which auditors must adhere. All PREA auditors are required to read and sign the Auditor Certification Agreement in order to obtain (or maintain) DOJ PREA auditor certification. 

Although this resource was developed primarily for auditors to guide and direct their role in the PREA audit process, the PREA Auditor Handbook includes important information for agencies and facilities preparing for and undergoing a PREA audit. Facilities and agencies are strongly encouraged to review the PREA Auditor Handbook to know what to expect from audits and from the auditors with whom they contract.

The PREA Auditor Handbook will be an evolving document as the PMO identifies edits and improvements. Auditors and the field will be notified of all revisions, which will be released periodically as subsequent versions of the PREA Auditor Handbook become available. 

This document is current as of January 2014.  To check to see if there are any updates to the case law, please contact Aequitas at: TA@aequitasresource.org. The website for Aequitas is http://www.aequitasresource.org/

Signed by Karol V. Mason, Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Justice Programs, and Bea Hanson, Principal Deputy Director at the Office of Violence Against Women, this letter was sent to all state governors on February 12th, 2014. The letter outlines the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) mandates, and PREA's affect on Department of Justice grant funding.

Presenters include:

The Department is committed to your safety and the safety of staff. You have the right to serve your sentence with dignity and free from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and retaliation. The Department has zero tolerance regarding sexual assault within its facilities. This means we DO NOT tolerate any level of sexual harassment, misconduct, or assault in this facility. Not in this agency, not in my facility. EVERY effort will be made to prevent sexual assault and misconduct from occurring. EVERY allegation will be investigated, EVERY perpetrator punished, and EVERY victim offered services.

Safety message - the Department is committed to your safety and the safety of staff. You have the right to serve your sentence with dignity and free from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and retaliation. The Department has zero tolerance regarding sexual assault within its facilities. This means we DO NOT tolerate any level of sexual harassment, misconduct, or assault in this facility. Not in this agency, not in my facility. EVERY effort will be made to prevent sexual assault and misconduct from occurring. EVERY allegation will be investigated, EVERY perpetrator punished, and EVERY victim offered services.

Samples of Policies relating to PREA developed by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Can be used as examples for reference in developing similar documents.

Acknowledgement of PREA standards used by Colorado Community Corrections during orientation for newly incarcerated individuals.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Safe Prisons Plan outlines the process of identifying and tracking victims and predators, and reporting, preventing, and detecting incidents related to sexual abuse, extortion, and other acts of offender aggression. The TDCJ Safe Prisons Plan is intended to ensure consistency in the screening, identification, investigation, reporting, and response processes, to include maintaining adequate tracking methods, documentation, data collection, and records related to Safe Prisons investigations.

PREA posters for women, men, and juveniles in Spanish and English.