Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2006, $567,709)
The Protecting Inmates and Safeguarding Communities Discretionary Grant Program was created as a result of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (the Act), Public Law 108-79. The goal of the Act is to eradicate sexual assaults in all of the correctional facilities in this country, be they federal, state, or local in nature. Nevertheless, the statutory focus for this grant program is state and local correctional facilities. This program is divided into two parts: (1) Protecting Inmates and (2) Safeguarding Communities. The Protecting Inmates part focuses on providing funding to state and local agencies for the costs of personnel, training, technical assistance, and data collection in the areas of prevention, investigation, prosecution, and treatment of victims of inmate on inmate sexual assault in a correctional facility. The Safeguarding Communities component of the program focuses on assisting the states in developing and implementing strategies when making release decisions for sexual aggressors without compromising public safety and addressing the needs of the victims after release.
The Tennessee Department of Corrections is requesting federal funding to implement a comprehensive program to address issues of prison rape and staff sexual misconduct in their institutions. The purpose of the proposed project is to implement initiatives designed to increase reporting of assaults, improve their capacity to investigate allegations, improve services for victims of sexual assaults, and to prevent future cases of rape and staff sexual misconduct.
CA/NCF