WV Implementing the PREA Standards, Protecting Inmates, and Safeguarding Communities

Authorized under the Prison Rape Elimination Act and the 2019 Consolidated Appropriations Act, the FY19 PREA Program: Implementing the PREA Standards, Protecting Inmates, and Safeguarding Communities will assist confinement facilities and the agencies that oversee them in implementing prevention, identification, and response mechanisms that reduce the incidence of sexual abuse in these facilities, and to promote compliance with the PREA standards. Program funds will be used to support efforts of state, local, and tribal jurisdictions to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse in confinement facilities covered by the PREA standards; promote comprehensive implementation of the standards; and enhance community safety by decreasing the likelihood that inmates, residents, and detainees are sexually victimized in confinement facilities prior to release.

The grant recipient will use funds to promote a unified culture of sexual safety across multiple types of facilities (prisons, jails, and juvenile), which were recently unified into one system. The funds will also be used to build a trauma-informed response to sexual abuse, including the provision of victim services, and increase accountability by strengthening investigations and working with state police and county prosecutors. Strategies will include policy review, staff training, and mobilization of outside partners.

CA/NCF