Prison Rape Elimination Act
What is PREA
Congress enacted the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003 to establish a zero tolerance of sexual abuse in any federal, state or local confinement facility. National standards regarding detection, prevention and response to sexual abuse, as well as gathering data were finalized and went into effect in August 2013.
Sexual contact between clients and/or staff is not permitted at the Care Campus or any addiction service center ran by the Sheriff's Office. Clients engaging in consensual sexual contact are in violation of facility rules and will face disciplinary action.
Clients receive education about their rights under PREA upon intake and throughout their stay via a client handbook that is issued to each client, and client education provided by staff members. The facility also provides multiple ways for reporting allegations of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and/or sexual misconduct and all allegations are thoroughly investigated. If deemed criminal, law enforcement is immediately notified.
PREA's role at the Care Campus
The Care Campus is committed to meeting the standards of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to provide a safe and secure facility for all clients in the care of the Sheriff's Office. The Care Campus reviews all data collected and aggregated to make an assessment of the effectiveness of sexual abuse prevention, detection, response policies, practices, the training methods used at the Life Enrichment Center (adult female only facility) and Lacrosse Street Facility (primarily an adult male facility with four female beds). Any and all problem areas will be identified and corrective action will be taken to eliminate all concerns or reports that may arise on an ongoing basis. Annual reports will be generated with the current year's data and any and all corrective actions taken place in prior pears. An assessment of Care Campus' progress in addressing sexual abuse will be included along with the approval of the Pennington County Sheriff. Some information will be redacted from any report made available to the public when the material from the report would present a clear and specific threat to the safety and security of Sheriff's Office employees or Care Campus clients. The nature of the redacted material will be indicated in all reports made available to the public. This will be followed at both addiction facilities including the Care Campus and the Lacrosse Street Facility.
PREA Investigation Disposition Types
Substantiated Allegation means that an allegation was investigated and determined to have occurred.
Unsubstantiated Allegation means that an allegation was investigated and the investigation produced insufficient evidence to make a final determination as to whether or not the event occurred.
Unfounded Allegation means that an allegation was investigated and determined not to have occurred.
PREA Data Collection
The Sheriff's Office addiction services began implementing and complying with the PREA standards regarding data collection in 2016. The data provided below is from July through December 2016. Going forward, data will continue to be kept and analyzed per PREA standards, identifying problem areas and taking corrective action on an on-going basis.