DeKalb County Sheriff's Office (DKSO) PREA Safety Knowledge for All

DKSO is proposing an innovative program, which is providing a platform centered on PREA education and reporting tools to be offered to all who are incarcerated (security assessments permitting).  The PREA educational content application will be programmed on the inmate’s secure tablets.  This DKSO PREA Safety: Knowledge for All program will enable DKSO to implement prevention, identification, and response mechanisms that will reduce the incidence of sexual assault and abuse.   The programmed PREA content will educate each inmate on PREA and the importance of reporting abuse and sexual assault.    

DKSO’s PREA Safety: Knowledge for All program will allow all inmates access to vital PREA information and resources.  An easily accessible sexual assault reporting process via the PREA content application will allow the victims of sexual assaults or threats of sexual assault immediate access to the DKSO staff.   Through the use of the PREA content application programmed tablets inmate reports will be anonymous which allows inmates, particularly those who are victimized, to feel safe and at ease when reporting an incident. 

The evidence-based data received from the inmate’s tablet with the PREA Safety: Knowledge for All programmed information will help enhance DKSO’s ability to form policies and procedures aimed at further protection of LGBTQ inmates, those with mental health needs, and women – all of whom are the most vulnerable to sexual abuse.  The PREA content programmed application on the tablets will allow the DKSO staff to respond quickly to these assaults and abuse matters.  This notification and education process programmed on the tablets will improve the safety of the inmates in the DeKalb County Jail.  Implementing the DKSO PREA Safety: Knowledge for All program will reduce the violence against at-risk inmates.

The data received from the tablets also allow DKSO to determine the real rate of occurrences and cultivate a culture of reporting sexual abuse that becomes safe and normative in the jail environment among staff and those incarcerated. As reporting becomes more routine, prevention methods can be refined.  However, without proper identification of the problem, the staff may not be properly addressing prevention.  The BJA funding for DKSO PREA Safety: Knowledge for All program will benefit DKSO as well as the incarcerated. 
The DKSO’s proposal is informed by the findings from the PREA pre-education survey conducted by Dr. Guastaferro in 2018.