State of New Hampshire PREA Initative

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.

Consistent with the overall goal of the Act and the New Hampshire Department of Corrections' (NHDOC) mission to provide a safe environment for the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders, Project REAP (Rape Elimination Awareness Project) represents a comprehensive approach to eliminating prison rape that incorporates 'zero tolerance' and achieving a culture characterized by greater understanding of the many facets of prison rape on the part of NHDOC personnel and offenders through increased reporting, investigation and prosecution and appropriate crisis intervention and on-going victim services support. The NHDOC will use these grant funds to implement Project REAP in three phases. Phase I seeks to: assess the extent and nature of the problem; create a climate and culture that encourages and supports detection, reporting, investigation and prosecution of prison sexual assault; and sustain movement toward a safe environment for offenders based upon an institutional culture of 'zero tolerance'. Phase II seeks to develop the capacity to provide rape crisis intervention, appropriate and effective responses (including medical and mental health intervention) and follow-up services to victims; educate staff and inmates regarding prison sexual assault; develop effective measures to predict predatory and victim profiles and modify classification and housing assignments designed to reduce the likelihood of sexual assault; develop effective measures to assess problematic staff profiles; and increasing the security and surveillance of at-risk offenders. Phase III seeks to conduct a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of all REAP activities.

CA/NCF