Each of North Carolina’s rape crisis centers functions as a service hub for all of its community’s survivors. Rape crisis centers are increasing their awareness of expanding those services to reach their communities’ most vulnerable and marginalized members — those who face physical, cultural, and societal barriers to accessing relevant, sensitized care. When working with incarcerated survivors, barriers may be physical, involving limited access to privacy, calls, letters, and visits. Other barriers may also include structural issues such as institutional hierarchy and bureaucracy or prison culture norms, or societal bias against people who have been incarcerated.
Survivors may have experienced sexual abuse or assault prior to becoming incarcerated; in fact, much has been written about the “Trauma to Prison Pipeline,” and more research is coming out about the “Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline.” Survivors also might have experienced sexual violence, sometimes in addition to prior abuse or assault, while incarcerated. Sexual violence against incarcerated survivors might have been enacted either by other incarcerated individuals or by prison staff. Incarcerated survivors are especially vulnerable to harm given their restriction of movement and limited access to advocacy resources.
To help support our member agencies in their efforts to provide compassionate, trauma-informed, sensitized advocacy to incarcerated survivors, we have created this resource page to help get you started learning about the Prison Rape Elimination Act and how you can navigate its provisions in your services to incarcerated survivors. As you work through these documents, webinars, and training and begin to implement them into your community advocacy, feel free to reach out to NCCASA with questions or for additional support. In partnership, we can prevent sexual violence through our combined education and advocacy.
NCCASA Resources
PREA: The North Carolina Approach
NCCASA Sample Survivor Response Letter
NCCASA Inmate Brochure – Spanish
NCCASA Inmate Brochure – English
Other State Coalition Resources
(If you see an idea or resource for PREA implementation, feel free to contact NCCASA with any questions you may have about if or how that resource might be used here.)
Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault PREA and Incarceration Toolkit
PREA & The SART Response from Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault
California Coalition Against Sexual Assault PREA Online Learning Modules
Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault PREA Toolkit
National Resources
Just Detention International (JDI)
JDI Service Provider Resources
JDI-created Multimedia (Excellent for training advocates and staff, empathy-building)
National PREA Resource Center (PRC)
PRC Training and Technical Assistance (Includes registration for upcoming webinars as well as archived webinars)
Resource Sharing Project (RSP)
RSP Mapping It Out: A Tool to Get Started on Providing Victim Services for Incarcerated Survivors
RSP Shedding Light on the System: A Corrections Primer for Victim Advocates
Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC)
VLRC Eliminating Bars as Barriers: A Tip Sheet for Delivering Confidential Victim Services to Confined Survivors of Sexual Assault, Domestic and Dating Violence, and Stalking