PREA Survey

This survey requires an average of 15 minutes to complete.

INTRODUCTION
The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was signed into law (P.L.108-79) on September 4, 2003. The goal of PREA is to eradicate sexual assaults in all correctional facilities in the United States. The law includes “any confinement facility of a federal, state, or local government, whether administered by such government or by a private organization on behalf of such government, and includes any local jail or police lockup, community confinement facility, and any juvenile facility used for the custody or care of juvenile inmates."

Lockup means a facility that contains holding cells, cell blocks, or other secure enclosures that are:
(1) Under the control of a law enforcement, court, or custodial officer; and
(2) Primarily used for the temporary confinement of individuals who have recently been arrested, detained, or are being transferred to or from a court, jail, prison, or other agency.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has published final standards that apply specifically to agencies that operate lockups. The standards can be reviewed at www.theiacp.org/PREA . Although compliance with the standards is not mandatory, they represent minimum standards of care for detainees. Voluntarily striving for significant compliance with the PREA standards will represent strong agency leadership and will minimize agency exposure to liability.

Now that Congress has passed PREA and the Department of Justice has finalized the standards, IACP is working to support its members as they consider these standards. The IACP will strive to make members fully aware of the PREA standards and to provide assistance to law enforcement leaders who are managing lockups of any size .

THIS SURVEY
In partnership with the National PREA Resource Center, which is operated by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) under a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Center for Innovative Public Policies (CIPP), IACP is conducting this national needs assessment survey to gather critical data from law enforcement leaders about current practices related to eliminating sexual abuse in local lockups. The information gathered through this survey will aid in the development of a variety of resources that will assist local police agencies in understanding the PREA standards and what steps they will need to consider in voluntarily seeking meaningful compliance with those standards. One of the resources that will be developed as a result of the survey findings is a toolkit for law enforcement administrators to assist agencies in complying with PREA.

Thank you for your participation in this brief survey; it will greatly enhance our efforts in providing law enforcement agencies nationwide with relevant tools to effectively manage lockups.

You can complete the online version of the survey or, if you prefer, you can download and print the PDF version of the survey from www.theiacp.org/PREA. If you choose to complete a paper version, please fax the completed survey to 703-684-3448 or scan and email to Maxwell@theiacp.org. We urge you to complete the survey as soon as possible, but the survey will close October, 12, 2012. If you need any assistance, please contact IACP Program Manager, Dianne Beer-Maxwell, at Maxwell@theiacp.org or 1.800.843.4227 x 807.