Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003 with unanimous support from both parties. Congress intended that PREA would provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape in Federal, State, and local institutions and to provide information, resources, recommendations, and funding to protect individuals from prison rape.
Vermonts Agency of Human Services, Department for Children and Families, Family Services Division acts as both a child welfare and youth justice agency. Vermont has one (1) locked/secure juvenile rehabilitation center and three (3) community-based staff-secure residential treatment programs that are considered confinement facilities under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards. Brief descriptions of Vermonts juvenile sites are listed below:
--- Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center is a state-operated locked/secure juvenile rehabilitation center with the capacity to serve thirty (30) youth, males and females, ages 1018. The purpose of the program is to provide short-term and long-term trauma-informed services within a safe and secure environment. The program serves youth who are in the custody of the Vermont DCF Commissioner with a delinquency charge or adjudication, and exhibiting self or other harming behavior(s).
--- Howard Center Park Street Program is a community-based residential treatment program with the capacity to serve ten (10) adolescent males ages 1218 with sexual harming behaviors. The components offered are 90-day assessments, long-term treatment (12-18 months) and short-term stabilization for clients who have previously received treatment with the goal of safe community reintegration.
--- Howard Center Transition House is a community-based residential treatment program with the capacity to serve four (4) adolescent males, ages 1622. This program acts as a step-down program for youth transitioning out of the locked/secure juvenile rehabilitation center. The primary goal of this program is to promote and support successful transitions for youth back into their communities.
--- Seall, Inc. is a 10-day stabilization program with the capacity to serve eight (8) adolescent males ages 1318. The primary goal of the program is to help residents recognize the behaviors that contributed to their need for this placement and to provide skills that will prepare them for their next placement.
The PREA audits in Vermont began in 2014 with Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center being the first program completing an audit. In June 2015 Woodside was found to be 100% PREA complaint. Audits for the three residential programs are scheduled to be in July and August 2015. The proposed training would support the development of needed policies/protocols to move toward PREA compliance while maintaining the purpose and goals of the programs.
NCA/NCF
