Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities
The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) established a federal commission to draft national standards that address sexual abuse in confinement settings. PREA also required the U.S. Attorney General to promulgate regulations based on the standards that apply to all federal, state, and local confinement settings, including juvenile detention, lockups, and community confinement. The federal PREA standards require agencies to take a number of steps to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse. Among those steps are making sure that incarcerated people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate and benefit from all of the agency’s PREA efforts. Making PREA and Victim Services Accessible for Incarcerated People with Disabilities: An Implementation Guide for Practitioners on the Adult and Juvenile Standards provides strategies to correctional agencies that will aid their compliance with these PREA requirements. The strategies discussed in this guide draw on established practices used by victim service organizations—both community-based and those based in government agencies—to make their services more accessible for this population. By offering concrete recommendations on how to adapt these community practices to correctional settings, this guide aims to help adult and juvenile correctional facilities increase accessibility for people with disabilities.