The Prison RapeElimination Act (PREA) Technical Assistance Project

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The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) issoliciting proposals from organizations, groups, or individuals to enter into a cooperative agreement for a 12-month period to begin in February 2010. Section 5 of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) requires NIC to provide“training and education programs for Federal, State, and local authorities responsible for the prevention, investigation, and punishment of instances of prison rape.”NIC’s technical assistance program is used to provide much of this training and education. Work under this cooperative agreement award will continue the technical assistance component of NIC’s PREA Initiative. The role of an NIC technical assistance provider is to help agencies improve operations, services, and programs.NIC funded PREA assistance builds the requester’s capacity to accomplish a task or set of tasks related to addressing sexual violence and abuse in correctional settings. The assistance can range from simple delivery of information about PREA to more complex organizational reviews, assessments, and accompanying recommendations. It is anticipated that technical assistance requests will be considered from state and local agencies chargedwith housing and/or supervising detained and sentenced offenders, and various Federal agencies with detention, correctional, and supervision responsibilities. Requests forPREA assistance will be submitted directly to NIC. The PREA Initiative Project Manager will review, approve, and forward the requests to the recipient of the cooperative agreement award. Although assistance provided under this award will focus on issues of inmate on inmate and staff on inmate sexual abuse and violence, NIC has other programs and initiatives that may be considered in the overall response to the request. As appropriate, the Project Manager willconsult with other NIC staff regarding strategies, programs, services, or products that might also assist the requester.The Project Manager will provide initial and general guidance regarding the type of response to be provided, and may participate in early discussions with the awardee and representatives from the requesting agency to further refinethe assistance response.The applicant will submit an initial protocol that will outline the basic tasks and sub-tasks to be completed in providing technical assistance. Guidance on what should be included can be found under “Supplementary Information”. In addition, the applicant should include a communications plan which describes notifications, updates, and approvals between the requester, the recipient, and the NIC ProjectManager. After the award is made, this protocol will be further refined as necessary and approved by NIC.

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