County-Related News

New Lockup Rape Law Poses Potential Financial, Operational Concerns for Counties

A new federal mandate intended to diminish sexual conduct in jails and other lockups could expose counties to tremendous financial liability via class action lawsuits unless steps are taken prior to the law’s formal implementation in the next year.

To address issues raised by the new Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), TAC is preparing to host regional workshops later this year.

A federal mandate intended to protect inmates against sexual abuse, PREA was passed unanimously by Congress, and signed by President George W. Bush in 2003. A provision of the law was the creation of a PREA commission tasked with studying the issue and returning with recommendations. The final version was released this past June. The U.S. Attorney General’s office now has a year to make any changes or approve the whole set of standards and enact the law. Law enforcement agencies, subsequently, have a year to be in compliance.

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

While the new law offers some funds for training there is a concern that there is no money allocated to cover all the operational changes that are necessary to be in compliance with PREA.

“This law requires us to do a whole lot with no money,” said Steve Chalender, TAC law enforcement specialist. “There is some educational funding, which will help us subsidize our workshops. But there is so much more that will require county financial support to achieve compliance with PREA.”

If the law passes in the current form counties will be expected to hire an outside auditor every three years to ensure their jail facility is in compliance, counties must also maintain data regarding arrestee abuse and sexual misconduct and more.

“There will be an economic and operational impact on counties because of PREA,” said Chalender.

TAC-sponsored workshops aimed at explaining the law will be done in a “train-the-trainer” setting. Due to funding constraints, the workshops will restrict the attendees to one per county. This designated trainer, after the workshop, returns to their county to train fellow law enforcement officers. The six regional workshops are scheduled for the weeks of Nov. 30 and Dec. 7. The locations have not yet been finalized. The class is a one-day, eight-hour session taught by Elizabeth Layman, a consultant working with the Center for Innovative Public Policies. Participants will receive eight hours of TCLEOSE credit.