Correctional Management Institute of Texas
Training the Corrections Field . . .
The widespread knowledge of the occurrence of sexual violence in correctional facilities led to the enactment of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003. The Act called for zero tolerance of sexual violence in all facilities nationwide, a diligence on issues related to sexual violence, and improvements or changes in methods to prevent and respond to incidents of sexual violence, both inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate. The current project examined the collective bargaining agreements that govern correctional agencies to identify the potential barriers or facilitators existing within these documents that may impact administrators’ responses to sexual violence. Additionally, structured interviews and focus groups were held with correctional administrators and labor representatives to expand upon the knowledge initially obtained through the analysis of the collective bargaining agreements.
Dissemination of the findings of this study are currently under review by the National Prison Rape Elimination Committee and will be released pending approval of this committee.