Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was a law that passed in Sept. of 2003. Within the law it defined that a National Prison Rape Elimination Committee needed to be formed. One of the tasks assigned to this committee was to draft a series of standards that would be adopted nationally throughout the US Dept. of Corrections (DOC). The Committee finished their draft in 2009—nearly six years after PREA was passed. This draft was turned over to the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) who passed the final standards. These standards were released in May 2012, to be effective August 20th, 2012.

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Per PREA Standards all federally funded correctional facilities (federal prisons, state prisons, local jails, community corrections, lock ups, juvenile detention centers) must investigate every claim of sexual assault or harassment, they must file a PREA/Incident Report, they must offer to transport an inmate to a medical facility, if needed, they must offer an inmate the option to speak to a victim advocate, if desired, and if they feel comfortable speaking to the law enforcement officer(s) that will investigate the claim.

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The Women’s Center, Inc. is contracted to work with Montour County Jail, Columbia County Prison, and North Central Secure Treatment Unit.