Do the standards apply to facilities that hold youth in the custody of a juvenile justice agency if those youth are not the totality of the population held in that particular facility? For example, are contracted secure juvenile facilities; contracted halfway houses, group homes, and community correctional facilities; and state department of social services secure facilities that provide services to juveniles who are under juvenile court jurisdiction through a contract with the state juvenile justice agency all covered? If so, to what extent?
The PREA standards make clear that a juvenile facility is one that is primarily used for the confinement of juveniles. If a majority of a facility’s residents are under the age of 18 (unless under adult court supervision and confined or detained in a prison or jail), it will fall within the scope of the juvenile facility standards, even if non-delinquent youth are part of the facility’s population. One example is a facility that houses 10 youth and only two of those youth are under the jurisdiction of juvenile justice agencies. According to the standard, because less than a majority of the youth in that facility are in the custody of the juvenile justice department, the facility does not need to comply with PREA juvenile facility standards. For example, if the facility is used to house individuals “as part of a term of imprisonment or as a condition of pre-trial release or post-release supervision…” then the community confinement standards would apply. See 28 C.F.R. § 115.5 (definition of community confinement facility).
In addition, as in all custodial settings, agencies have state and federal legal obligations to protect those in custody, irrespective of obligations under PREA.
Finally, PREA Standard 115.312 provides that “a public agency that contracts for the confinement of its residents with private agencies or other entities, including other government agencies, shall include in any new contract or contract renewal the entity’s obligation to adopt and comply with the PREA standards and any new contract or contract renewal shall provide for agency contract monitoring to ensure that the contractor is complying with the PREA standards.”