Tennessee Prison Rape Elimination Act Strategy

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) provides that a state or territory whose governor does not certify full compliance with the standards is subject to the loss of five percent of any DOJ grant funds that it would otherwise receive for prison purposes, unless the governor submits an assurance that such five percent will be used only for the purpose of enabling the state to achieve and certify full compliance with the standards in future years. See 34 U.S.C. 30307(e). The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program is one of the DOJ grant programs subject to this requirement in fiscal year (FY) 2020.

The goals of the FY 2020 PREA Reallocation JAG Program are to continue implementation of the national standards to prevent, detect, and respond to prison rape in order to protect individuals from sexual abuse and sexual harassment in confinement. States funded under this program are eligible to receive support and assistance from a BJA funded technical assistance provider.

The recipient will use funds to continue to work on coming into compliance with PREA Standards in order to better protect individuals from sexual abuse and sexual harassment in confinement facilities. A portion of funds will be used to enhance PREA processes in the areas of training, education, supervision and monitoring. TDOC will host a transgender symposium for TDOC staff and community partners to better identify PREA issues specific to this vulnerable population. Additionally, support will be given to offset travel costs for the Statewide PREA Coordinator for travel to facilities to conduct on-the-job training and compliance accountability checks. In order to strengthen the area of supervision and monitoring, TDOC will convert the last five group shower bays remaining to individual stalls. Overall, the funds will be used to strengthen PREA compliance for the department resulting in a safer confinement environment.

NCA/NCF