Standards 115.41(f) and 115.241(f) require that the facility “reassess the inmate’s/resident’s risk of victimization or abusiveness based on any additional, relevant information received by the facility since the intake process” and that it do so no more than 30 days after intake. The question is whether this standard subsection requires that EVERY inmate be reassessed within 30 days of arrival at the facility to determine whether any relevant new information exists; OR, alternatively, whether it requires that some process be in place to capture new information that arrives at the facility within 30 days and, when new information arrives, it prompts a reassessment?
The standard requires both. First, there is a general and continuing obligation to conduct a screening reassessment whenever warranted upon receipt of additional relevant information. Specifically, standard 115.41(g) requires that “[a]n inmate’s risk level shall be reassessed when warranted due to a referral, request, incident of sexual abuse, or receipt of additional information that bears on the inmate’s risk of sexual victimization or abusiveness.” This continuing obligation extends through the duration of the inmate’s incarceration.
By contrast, the standards also require an affirmative reassessment within a set time period, but no later than 30 days of intake. Specifically, standard 115.41(f) requires that “[w]ithin a set time period, not to exceed 30 days from the inmate’s arrival at the facility, the facility will reassess the inmate’s risk of victimization or abusiveness based upon any additional, relevant information received by the facility since the intake screening” (emphasis added).
While standard 115.41(f) requires an affirmative reassessment within 30 days, the reassessment need not “start from scratch.” For example, as noted in the PREA Notice of Final Rule, a facility may generally rely upon information previously gathered, so long as the reassessment “captures any changes in risk factors that may have occurred subsequent to the facility’s prior gathering of information regarding that inmate.”
While a facility may (and should) have a system in place for capturing additional or new information from a variety of sources (e.g., mental health assessment, disciplinary history, or allegations of relevant threats or victimization), the 30-day affirmative reassessment requires, at a minimum, that screening staff consult available sources (including the inmate) to determine whether any previously unknown triggering event or information has become available and to document such review. In short, as opposed to the “passive” requirements under standards 115.41(g), standard 115.41(f) requires screening staff to affirmatively “look and inquire.”
Some risk factors are subject to change within the first 30-days after intake and may only be determined by making affirmative inquiry of the inmate. For example, the “inmate’s own perception of vulnerability” can only be known by the inmate. See standard 115.41(d)(9). In addition, the inmate may have experienced unreported sexual victimization during this time period. See standard 115.41(d)(8). Accordingly, all 30-day reassessment requires consultation with the inmate.
As noted in the PREA Notice of Final Rule, “[t]he final standard requires that inmates who remain in custody undergo a more extensive classification process [within 30 days].” This requirement recognizes that information relevant to the risk and classification needs will become available as staff interview, assess, and observe the inmate, and as the facility receives information from other agencies and sources.
Revised August 2, 2019. Original posting date June 20, 2014.