NCJ Number
239958
Date Published
February 2011
Length
55 pages
Annotation
This publication examines the proposed rulemaking for national standards to prevent, detect, and respond to prison rape.
Abstract
This is a U.S. Department of Justice notice of proposed rulemaking for National Standards To Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape. The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA), 42 U.S.C. 15601 et seq., requires the Attorney General to promulgate regulations that adopt national standards for the detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment of prison rape. PREA established the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission to carry out a comprehensive legal and factual study of the penological, physical, mental, medical, social, and economic impacts of prison rape in the United States, as well as to recommend national standards to the Attorney General and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Commission released its recommended national standards in a report dated June 23, 2009, and subsequently disbanded, pursuant to the statute. The Commission set forth 4 sets of recommended national standards for eliminating prison rape and other forms of sexual abuse. The Commission recommended that its standards apply to Federal, State, and local correctional and detention facilities (excluding facilities operated by the Department of Defense and the Bureau of Indian Affairs). In addition to the standards themselves, the Commission prepared assessment checklists, designed as tools, to provide agencies and facilities with examples of how to meet the standards' requirements; glossaries of key terms; and discussion sections providing explanations for the rationale of the standards and, in some cases, guidance for achieving compliance.