State House, Second Floor Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 May 15,2014 The Honorable Eric H. Holder United States Attorney General U.S. Deprutment of Justice 950 Pennsylvania A venue NW Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 Dear Attorney General Holder: Michael R. Pence Governor The intent of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) suppmts a goal we all share: to prevent sexual assault against incarcerated persons. Our evolving standards of decency require all civic leaders to stdve to find new and better ways to protect all citizens, including those incarcerated in prison and jails. Despite PREA's good intentions, the law's standards and the timeline set for full compliance recently adopted by the Department of Justice cannot be met. A number ofPREA guidelines conflict with other federal regulations, as well as state laws and other nationally recognized detention standards. These conflicts would, in all likelihood, increase Indiana's exposure to litigation and liability. There is little empirical data showing these standards to be effective. Other standards appear to promote rather than eliminate misconduct and assault in prison. To attain the required full compliance, many additional staff would need to be hired, additional equipment installed, and resources put in place. This would require a redirection of millions of tax dollars currently supporting other critical needs for Indiana. Yom office has called upon every governor to certify that all facilities under their control are fully compliant with PREA standruds by May 15,2014. Regardless of the roadblocks to compliance, there has been no opportunity to audit all of Indiana's 25 state facilities, and 115 lockups, so it is not possible to report accurately the extent to which Indiana has achieved compliance. PREA standards require facility audits by certified auditors, yet the first auditors were not certified by the U.S. Department of Justice until after the timeline for audits began in 2013. There .. are cunently only enough certified auditors nationwide to audit a small percentage of facilities in this short timeframe. This expectation is even more unreasonable given the fact that there is still no approved PREA audit tool pertaining to community confinement and lockup facilities. Indiana has taken action on its own to change policies and practices in response to PREA. But sweeping mandatory standards like those recently established, work only to bind the states, and hinder the evolution of even better and safer practices. I encourage the administration to reexamine cunent expectations, and provide states greater discretion to implement policies and practices that eliminate sexual assault against incarcerated - persons in ways that comport with fundamental correctional practices and make best use of cotTectional resources. Sincerely, n-fLr-- Michael R. Pence Governor of Indiana cc: Indiana's Congressional Delegation Bruce Lemmon, Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction rts/mga
Criminalization of HIV Exposure: A Review of Empirical Studies in The United States, by Dini Harsono, Carol L. Galletly, Elaine O'Keefe, Zita Lazzarini. AIDS Behavior.