Safe Prisons/PREA Intake, Screening and Classification Processes

Authorized under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, the FY20 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 recipient will use fund to streamline and automate assessment screenings and other PREA reporting processes in conjunction with the Safe Prisons/PREA Automated Network System (SPPANS) through the acquisition and utilization of tablets. This system will enhance PREA reporting processes by: linking other departmental databases, expediting review processes, creating greater statistical analysis capabilities, and facilitating tracking offender sexual abuse activity. Access to the web-based application via tablets will automate the assessment process by allowing the interviewer to enter the assessment into the application for instant viewing by appropriate classification staff members. The tablets will also allow the interviewer to conduct assessments in any location on a facility and allow for mobile automation of other reporting processes.

CA/NCF