Enhancing Capacity for Preventing Sexual Abuse in Confinement Facilities

Authorized under the Prison Rape Elimination 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.

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 used funds to promote a comprehensive implementation of the PREA standards by enhancing staff capacity for preventing sexual abuse in confinement facilities in Puerto Rico. Specifically, the funds will be used to: (1) enhance staff capacity in preventing, detecting and responding to sexual abuse in confinement facilities and skills building to comply with PREA standards; (2) provide mandatory train-the-trainer courses for staff personnel in 29 correctional facilities; (3) promote integration of the PREA standards into day-to-day operations and culture of confinement facilities; (4) provide inmate education and awareness; and, (4) create cultures of "Zero Tolerance" for sexual abuse in confinement facilities.

CA/NCF