Preliminary Results from Assessment on How to Improve Compliance with PREA Standards on Reporting of Sexual Abuse and Accessing Emotional Support Services

• In Event: Reproductive Justice and Incarceration

Abstract

Sexual abuse in correctional facilities is a pervasive problem across the United States. Survivors of prior sexual abuse, people with behavioral health needs, and those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer disproportionately experience sexual abuse during incarceration. The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards were developed over a decade ago, yet most facilities struggle to implement them fully. The Urban Institute, in partnership with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, and project advisory partner, Just Detention International, have been funded by two components of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office on Violence Against Women and the Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance to conduct an assessment on if and how a service line could help improve compliance with two PREA Standards. Standards of interest include requiring that incarcerated people have a way to report sexual abuse to an entity outside the corrections agency and access emotional support services from outside sexual abuse victim advocates. This paper will present preliminary findings from focus groups with PREA auditors, correctional leaders and staff, and community service providers that work with incarcerated survivors of sexual abuse, as well as interviews with incarcerated people.

Authors

• Evelyn McCoy, Urban Institute

• Paige Remington, Urban Institute

• Karla Vierthaler, National Sexual Violence Resource Center

• Sara Walters, National Sexual Violence Resource Center