Addressing Prison Sexual Violence

The Urban Institute (UI) along with its partner, the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA), propose to conduct a study of policies, programs, and practices designed to prevent prison sexual violence (PSV), to treat victims of PSV, and to prosecute perpetrators of PSV. The UI/ASCA team has designed a multi-level study including three tasks: two sets of surveys (one with state correctional administrators and one with prison facility directors); and a process evaluation including a series of case studies that will document how promising policies, programs, and practices are implemented. The three tasks build upon one another, each laying the foundation for the next. Task 1, the Survey of State Correctional Administrators (SSCA), involves a phone survey of all state correctional administrators about how their state is addressing PSV to create a national portrait of work in this area. Task 2 involves choosing 100 facilities identified during the SSCA to include in a Survey of Facility Directors (SFD) to learn more specifically about how facilities work to prevent PSV and assist victims. Based on information learned during the SFD and recommendations from the project staff and our advisory group, we will choose ten facilities for Task 3's case studies. Cases studies include site visits and face-to-face interviews with all stakeholders relevant to the facilities' efforts to address PSV. The final product is a report documenting information learned in the first four tasks. Study results will be disseminated to policymakers, correctional administrators, and facility directors. ca/ncf