Auditor Compliance Tool - Prisons and Jails is one of the core components of the PREA audit instrument. It is used during each phase of the PREA audit to guide auditors in making compliance determinations for each provision of every standard, including the evidence auditors should collect to assess compliance. The Auditor Compliance Tool walks the auditor step by step through each provision of every Standard, pairing the provision itself with the detailed requirements for compliance and noting how the auditor should verify that the facility meets or does not meet those requirements.
The Body-worn Camera Partnership Program is for law enforcement agencies, including tribal law enforcement, seeking to pilot, establish, or enhance body-worn camera policy and implementation practices. BJA’s Body-worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program (BWCPIP) addresses how to develop and implement these policies and practices for effective program adoption, including the purchase, deployment, and maintenance of camera systems and equipment; data storage and access; and privacy considerations.
The CDC's correctional health guidance provides comprehensive resources and recommendations for correctional facility staff, public health professionals, and community organizations. It includes guidelines for testing, vaccination, and treatment of HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis (TB), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for both incarcerated individuals and staff. The guidance also covers COVID-19 management, worker safety, overdose prevention, and food safety in correctional settings.
Developing and Implementing a PREA-Compliant Staffing Plan introduces correctional practitioners to a new resource for developing a PREA-compliant staffing plan. This webinar will introduce key concepts from the published white paper entitled Developing and Implementing PREA-Compliant Staffing Plan: A Resource for the Field that addresses a range of considerations when developing a staffing plan in both adult and juvenile correctional settings.
FTP Resources for Auditors offers a compilation of auditor resources used by the Field Training Program (FTP). The resources were developed by the FTP team to aid in obtaining and collecting audit documentation and comprehensive facility data.
The Guide for Hiring Corrections Analysts offers leaders in corrections guidance on building teams that can provide data and analytics support to their agencies. The tool also provides tiers of basic skills, knowledge, and experiences that corrections analysts should possess at different levels.
Improving Institutional Corrections Training Academies: Guiding Principles Agency Assessment evaluates each agency's adherence to the guiding principles.
Training is an integral component of every correctional agency, influenced by factors such as agency mission, organizational priorities, and budget considerations. Improving Institutional Corrections Training Academies: Guiding Principles is intended to provide a tool to organize priorities for a contemporary correctional training academy and a framework for best practices in the field to ensure staff receive the highest caliber training available.
The Collaborative Crisis Response Training Program funds the implementation of transdisciplinary crisis response training to educate, train, and prepare law enforcement and corrections officers so that they are equipped to appropriately interact with people who have behavioral health conditions (including mental health and substance use) and intellectual and developmental disabilities while completing their job responsibilities. The program supports states and local law enforcement, and correctional entities to plan and implement training, engage in organizational planning to deploy trained officers in times of crisis, and sustain a best practice crisis response program.
The Integrating Adult Learning Theory Practices in Correctional Training course reviews the tenets of Adult Learning Theory and the value of applying these principles to the development of all training curriculum. There is a clear connection between effective training and the enhancement of safety and security practices through employee readiness, satisfaction, and retention.
This Justice Reinvestment Initiative State-level Technical Assistance uses a data-driven process to help states improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their criminal justice systems. The initiative works in partnership with states to address public safety challenges, including people who have mental illnesses in the justice system, high rates of recidivism, and the high cost of corrections, all while trying to improve services for victims and increase opportunities for people returning to communities from prison. BJA provides training and technical assistance experts to collect agency-spanning data that spotlight the most pressing trends and drivers of crime and recidivism.
The Child Friendly Family Visiting Spaces in Jails and Prisons Program provides federal funds and training and technical assistance to correctional facilities to construct, renovate, or modify child-friendly family visiting spaces. It also provides funding to review, modify, and implement visiting policies, procedures, staffing, training, and implementation plans to support family strengthening and the best interests of child visitors.
The National Guidelines for Post-conviction Risk and Needs Assessment is designed to help criminal justice agencies ensure that their implementation of post-conviction risk and needs assessment promotes accuracy, fairness, transparency, and effective communication and use.
OAS Updates and Q&A Session was an opportunity to ask any and all questions related to the PREA Online Audit System.
The PREA Brochure: Template is intended for essential inmate/resident education on PREA, including definitions of sexual abuse and sexual harassment and how to make a report. The brochure was created to allow facilities to modify it to make it facility-specific. Instructions for how to modify the template and how to print for best results are included.
PREA Poster Templates are intended to provide information on an individual’s right to report, how to report, and access to victim support services. The posters were created in a range of sizes and designed to allow facilities to modify them to make them facility-specific. Instructions for how to modify the template and how to print for best results are included.
Promoting Positive Behavior in Restrictive Housing explores how the South Dakota State Penitentiary (SDSP) officers and supervisors saw immediate results when corrections officers began monitoring positive behavior amongst its restrictive housing offenders on each shift. Not only were the offenders complying with basic rules, they were more respectful in their communication and engaged in their own progress. SDSP officers designed and implemented a no-cost method to track and reward positive behavior every day, on every shift in the Restrictive Housing Program.
The CDC's correctional health webpage provides essential information and resources on the health and well-being of individuals involved in the justice system. It highlights the increased health risks faced by this population, such as higher rates of infectious diseases, mental health issues, and substance use disorders.
Criminal justice agencies use risk assessments to assist with the allocation of limited resources to manage and rehabilitate people at various stages of the criminal justice system. The Public Safety Risk Assessment Clearinghouse (PSRAC) provides evidence-based information about how to use risk assessments effectively and properly to build safe families and communities.
Improving Institutional Corrections Training Academies: Guiding Principles provides a concise overview of the foundational principles designed to ensure the highest standard of training for all correctional agencies.
South Dakota Department of Corrections (SD DOC) began reforming its restrictive housing policies, procedures, and practices in late 2013. In Restrictive Housing Performance Measures: Real World Application the SD DOC, with technical assistance from the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) funded through the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), collected and reported data from the start not only to demonstrate what was being done, how well, and to what end, but also to help inform modifications to the new restrictive housing program as it was rolled out.
The CDC's correctional health recommendations provide guidelines for testing, vaccination, and treatment of HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis (TB), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for incarcerated or detained individuals. The recommendations emphasize critical public health actions at intake, during incarceration, and at release, including specific considerations for pregnant people. The guidelines also highlight the need for facilities to adapt these recommendations based on their resources and healthcare capacity.
The purpose of the Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision Program is to provide state, local, and tribal community supervision agencies with information, resources, and training and technical assistance (TTA) to engage in collaborative problem solving with stakeholders using data and research-informed strategies to assess and improve responses to client behavior in accordance with the principles of swiftness, certainty, and fairness; improve supervision outcomes; prevent recidivism; reduce crime in their jurisdictions; and advance public safety.
Training Directors: A Survey to Develop Guidance on Correctional Training Needs provides facts from a national scan conducted by Improving Institutional Corrections Academy Training consisting of on-site observations, surveys, and curriculum evaluations. TMG examines training academies' focus, content, and quality and develop guidance for building and supporting correctional staff to increase public safety by improving outcomes across the corrections community.
Training Matrix Development Guide for Correctional Training Academies provides a framework for basic correctional training (BCT), along with pre-service and annual/in-service training programs. This guidance was developed after conducting a national scan of state correctional training programs and identifying gaps in curricula. This resource is intended to provide training academy directors, instructors, and staff a guide for building and supporting key skills and knowledge for today’s corrections workforce.