NICIC.gov: Your Role: Responding to Sexual Abuse

Your Role: Responding to Sexual Abuse

Anytime--This e-course is designed to enhance correctional professionals’ skills in responding to incidents and allegations of sexual abuse.

Overview

This 2-hour e-course provides a comprehensive overview of the Federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) and is designed to increase participants’ understanding of the dynamics of sexual abuse among male inmates, female inmates and between staff and inmates. As a participant, you will learn how to effectively and appropriately respond when you first learn of an allegation of sexual abuse that may have occurred in your correctional facility. The interactive nature of the course’s “business cases” will enable you to practice and apply the skills you learn in a “real world” scenario.

Objectives

At the end of the training, participants will be able to:

Articulate the key components of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA);
Describe understanding of the sexual abuse among male inmates, female inmates and staff and inmates;
Describe how sexual behaviors impact the corrections system and security;
Discuss the legal implications in the areas of staff sexual misconduct and inmate-inmate sexual assault;
Demonstrate an understanding of the role, skills and duties of the first responder;
Develop ways to effectively and appropriately respond when you first learn of an allegation of sexual abuse that may have occurred in your correctional facility;
Identify the principles of investigation and the importance of a fair and timely investigative process;
Practice the application of skills learned in the course;
Discuss prevention strategies; and
Articulate issues surrounding special population management.

Audience

This interactive e-course is open to all staff working in correctional settings. Its content has special relevance to institutional environments and addresses issues that have serious legal and public safety issues for staff at all levels.