ENGLAND -- The number of prison sexual assaults reported to federal authorities will likely increase significantly in the next two years, a prison official said Tuesday.
That's because officials are overhauling the prison system's culture and policies when it comes to inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate sexual abuse or harassment.
The officials are anticipating -- and hoping for -- more reporting by inmates and staff members. The Arkansas Department of Correction has overhauled policies and is extensively training correction officer recruits and all staff members.
The department has added safeguards for prisoners and staff members who report sexual crimes or harassment. Changes include establishing the Prison Rape Elimination Act hotline, mandating annual training of all staff members on how to compassionately and immediately respond to assaults, and opening more avenues for inmates and staff members to safely report sexual crimes.
"Sexual assault is the most underreported crime out there," Tami Aikin, a Department of Correction deputy warden and the agency's Prison Rape Elimination Act coordinator, told almost 60 cadets at the department's training facility in England.
During the class, she told them: "We take immediate action. If Mom calls us, we take action. Even if it's a rumor, we will start that investigation."
Jesse Lerner-Kinglake, communications director for Just Detention International -- a nonprofit organization formed in 1980 in California that aims to stop sexual victimization of prisoners -- said Tuesday that it was encouraging that Arkansas' prison system is ramping up its education and policies.
"Such programs, if carried out meaningfully, can be part of a larger effort to help create a culture shift at the facility, which in turn makes prisoners safer," Lerner-Kinglake said. "It's also true that an agency-wide increase in reports of sexual abuse could be an indicator that prisoners have a greater awareness of how to come forward and, just as important, trust staff to respond appropriately."
The federal Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed in 2003, but the rules and procedures were not established until 2012. An Arkansas inmate, Bryson Martel -- who also went by the name of Kendell Spruce and who said he was raped in an Arkansas prison -- participated in the drafting of Prison Rape Elimination Act standards, according to Just Detention International. He died in 2010.
In 2012, the national resource center for the Prison Rape Elimination Act began to offer training manuals and other resources to guide state correctional facilities into compliance.
"The center not only collects data but also shows which changes in policy or practices are most effective," said Cathy Frye, state Correction Department spokesman.
On May 15, Arkansas became one of five states in the nation to decline to offer certification or an assurance of compliance with the national Prison Rape Elimination Act. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a letter to the U.S. Justice Department that although the state implements and trains its detention staff members on national Prison Rape Elimination Act standards, the state "cannot presently certify full compliance" or "submit an assurance of future compliance."
Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in June that she had urged Hutchinson to decline to offer certification or assurance because of legal barriers that prevented compliance, and other standards that would limit opportunities for inmates and staff members.
Specifically, the Prison Rape Elimination Act bans crossgender viewing and pat-downs of female inmates.
A 1995 lawsuit filed against the state and its Correction Department by the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that the state was discriminating against female employees because they were not allowed to work in male housing units.
As part of the $7.2 million settlement, the state prison system now allows women to work in all housing areas, except in posts where routine strip searches of male inmates are a major part of their job duties.
Kelley said Tuesday that the state would reconsider complying with the Prison Rape Elimination Act if the standards were "modified or interpreted so that they would not limit staff working in housing areas by gender."
"We will comply with most of the standards, but not all in the present form," Kelley said. "I expect that the standards will be reviewed once all of the initial three years of audit reports are reviewed at the national level."
States that do not comply or offer assurance of future compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act could lose up to 5 percent of their Justice Department funding.
Arkansas receives nearly $700,000 annually in Department of Justice grants. According to Doris Smith, the administrator of the state Department of Finance and Administration intergovernmental services department, the state's noncompliance with the act could cause it to loses about $133,000 each year from two grant programs:
• The Edward Byrnne Memorial Justice Assistance grant, which is used to fund the multijurisdictional drug task force agencies.
• The STOP Violence Against Women grant, which funds facilities that offer services or shelter to female victims of violence.
Lerner-Kinglake said that despite the positive actions in Arkansas prisons, it is "a mistake for the state to reject PREA."
"This decision is especially misguided in light of the Department of Justice's investigation into reports of rampant sexual abuse at [Arkansas'] McPherson women's prison," he said. "If Arkansas is truly serious about stopping rape, the state must commit to adopting all of the PREA standards, not just some of them."
A month after Hutchinson declined to officially participate in the Prison Rape Elimination Act, the Justice Department announced that it was investigating allegations of sexual abuse and sexual harassment, as well as the mistreatment of transgender women at the McPherson Unit near Newport.
Prison officials said in June that the investigation likely centers on allegations from two female inmates that they had a sexual relationship for 3½ years with former prison chaplain Kenneth Dewitt. That case is now in the hands of the 3rd Judicial Circuit's Prosecuting Attorney Henry Boyce.
At the cadet's class Tuesday, Aikin was straightforward and unrelenting in her training approach, encouraging -- and at times demanding -- interaction from the correctional officer trainees.
"Can an inmate consent to anything in prison?" Aikin called out when discussing staff-on-inmate rape or harassment.
"No, ma'am," came the reply shouted in unison.
Aiken held her hands together in front of her.
"They will walk you out in handcuffs, and you will probably go to prison," she said of correctional officers who don't remember that.
Aikin spared no formality in verbalizing and explaining sexual terminology, even demanding that the cadets repeat it back to her. Nervous laughter sporadically came from the students.
"This is blowing my mind," one red-faced cadet said, shaking his head.
After the class Tuesday, Aiken and state Department of Correction Training Director Fred Campbell did not mince words when it comes to staff-on-inmate sexual crimes.
Campbell cited past cases and said the department has "zero tolerance" on the issue.
"It is a felony to have sex with an inmate. Period," Campbell said, adding that prison employees receive extra training on how to maintain professional boundaries and how employees can spot a potential problem in a co-worker.
Aiken said once the new policies and standards are complete, she will be busy training all of the employees in the coming months on the changes.
"It's time for us to stop turning out individuals so traumatized by their prison experience that they aren't able to function," she said. "We need to produce valuable members of the community. If they're not given a safe environment, then they're not going to benefit from anything we have to offer."
A Section on 07/08/2015