Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Trump DOJ Defunds National Prison Rape Resource Center
Trump DOJ Defunds National Prison Rape Resource Center
A letter obtained exclusively by The Appeal says Trump’s Department of Justice has cut all funding to the Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Gage Skidmore / Flickr
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Apr 23, 2025
The Department of Justice has terminated all funding for the National Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Resource Center, according to a letter from the National PREA Resource Center obtained by The Appeal. Among other activities, the group had previously trained prison sexual assault auditors, tracked the results of PREA investigations, and provided resources to imprisoned sexual abuse survivors. The cuts take effect immediately. ... When asked for comment, a DOJ spokesperson told The Appeal in an email that “discretionary funds that are no longer aligned with the administration’s priorities are subject to review and reallocation.” The administration’s priorities are “prosecuting criminals, getting illegal drugs off of the streets, and protecting American institutions from toxic DEI and sanctuary city policies.”
Impact Justice operates the National PREA Resource Center through a cooperative agreement with the Department of Justice. The organization said in a statement that it “is heartbroken about the Administration’s decision to cease funding.” ... “The Justice Department in 2012 adopted statutorily required regulations to guide facilities so they can live up to their responsibilities to protect people in their care, and they set up a system of auditing to hold agencies accountable to the promise of PREA,” said Michela Bowman, Vice President and Senior Project Advisor at Impact Justice said in a statement. “Defunding supports for agencies to do that work and of the systems needed to operate the audit function suggest, dismayingly, that DOJ has abandoned its statutory responsibilities to protect the most vulnerable people in confinement from sexual abuse as required by PREA.”
Experts and advocates working to end prison sexual assault were uniformly aghast at the news. ... “The actions by the Department of Justice to immediately zero out all funding of PREA investigations and audits will tragically make it even more challenging to hold prison and jail officials responsible for the sexual assaults of the people who they have locked up,” Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, told The Appeal in an email.
Congress unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, known as PREA, in 2003. The legislation sought to “provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape in federal, state, and local institutions and to provide information, resources, recommendations and funding to protect individuals from prison rape.” It also created a commission to create standards for eliminating sexual violence in carceral settings.
{snip}
A letter obtained exclusively by The Appeal says Trump’s Department of Justice has cut all funding to the Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Gage Skidmore / Flickr
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Apr 23, 2025
The Department of Justice has terminated all funding for the National Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Resource Center, according to a letter from the National PREA Resource Center obtained by The Appeal. Among other activities, the group had previously trained prison sexual assault auditors, tracked the results of PREA investigations, and provided resources to imprisoned sexual abuse survivors. The cuts take effect immediately. ... When asked for comment, a DOJ spokesperson told The Appeal in an email that “discretionary funds that are no longer aligned with the administration’s priorities are subject to review and reallocation.” The administration’s priorities are “prosecuting criminals, getting illegal drugs off of the streets, and protecting American institutions from toxic DEI and sanctuary city policies.”
Impact Justice operates the National PREA Resource Center through a cooperative agreement with the Department of Justice. The organization said in a statement that it “is heartbroken about the Administration’s decision to cease funding.” ... “The Justice Department in 2012 adopted statutorily required regulations to guide facilities so they can live up to their responsibilities to protect people in their care, and they set up a system of auditing to hold agencies accountable to the promise of PREA,” said Michela Bowman, Vice President and Senior Project Advisor at Impact Justice said in a statement. “Defunding supports for agencies to do that work and of the systems needed to operate the audit function suggest, dismayingly, that DOJ has abandoned its statutory responsibilities to protect the most vulnerable people in confinement from sexual abuse as required by PREA.”
Experts and advocates working to end prison sexual assault were uniformly aghast at the news. ... “The actions by the Department of Justice to immediately zero out all funding of PREA investigations and audits will tragically make it even more challenging to hold prison and jail officials responsible for the sexual assaults of the people who they have locked up,” Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, told The Appeal in an email.
Congress unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, known as PREA, in 2003. The legislation sought to “provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape in federal, state, and local institutions and to provide information, resources, recommendations and funding to protect individuals from prison rape.” It also created a commission to create standards for eliminating sexual violence in carceral settings.
{snip}