Addressing Sexual Violence in Prisons: A National Snapshot of Approaches and Highlights

Before the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003, it was not clear the extent to which state departments of corrections were addressing sexual violence in systematic ways. Little information existed about what strategies were being put into practice in prison systems across the country. PREA has changed the way departments of corrections are addressing prison sexual violence..

The purpose of this project was to provide a national snapshot of departments of corrections' initiatives to address prison sexual violence, as well as to identify specific practices that seemed to be, in the absence of formal evaluations, particularly promising or innovative in nature. Practices were identified related to policy development, prevention, investigation and prosecution, victim services, staff training, documenting incidents, and funding.