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December 1-10, 2009

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), Train the Trainer

Is your Agency Prepared?

Educational Co-Sponsor:
Correctional Management Institute of Texas, George J. Beto Criminal Justice Center, Sam Houston State University, Texas Jail Association and Texas Chief Deputies Association.

Course Description
The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), is a new federal law intended to diminish all forms of sexual conduct in jails and other lockups, including many current activities that are common in most if not all forms of incarceration (cursing, incidental exposure, partial nudity, etc). Implementation of this new law could expose counties to tremendous financial liability and litigation.

In order to educate counties, TAC is sponsoring a series of six train-the-trainer regional workshops. The workshops will provide law enforcement with the information they must have to implement the PREA National Standards.  

The standards will direct policy and procedure for all agencies that manage any form of custodial situation—including arrest, transport, or actual use of holding cells. PREA also requires annual, detailed, uniform reporting of all reported incidents of defined prohibited behaviors.

The new law, which is expected to be approved without many changes by the U.S. Attorney General’s office within the next year, affects all lock-up facilities from jails to prisons and includes inmate-on-inmate abuse, staff-on-inmate abuse and sexual/verbal abuse by visitors or volunteers.

Objectives

This interactive curriculum includes:

• An overview of PREA and its application to law enforcement
• The dynamics of sexual violence and misconduct (in custodial settings)
• Legal issues and challenges
• Prevention strategies and action planning
• An interactive afternoon session that also "trains the trainers" to return to their agencies and deliver the curriculum.

Who Should Attend:

This training is limited to only one participant per agency due to limited capacity. The designated participant should be the staff member who will be responsible for PREA policy development, implementation and staff training.  Registration is limited to sheriffs' offices throughout the state of Texas.

There is a waiting list for any additional county staff members that wish to attend. Please email Michele Ewerz to add them. You will be notified if a spot becomes available.

This program is free of charge to all county employees.

There will be NO onsite registration for this event due to limited capacity.