PREA Deadline Has Come and Gone, Seven States "Opt Out"

On May 15th, states were required to certify compliance, or provide assurances that it would eventually come into compliance, with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). This week, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), only two states have certified full compliance with PREA: New Hampshire and New Jersey. Forty-six states provided assurances that they will continue to work on full implementation and seven state Governors completely rebuked the federal statute and stated they would absolutely NOT comply. These states include: Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, and Florida.

What does this mean?

We know that Texas and Florida house more kids in adult prisons than most other jurisdictions. Willfully neglecting PREA's Youthful Inmate Standard continues to put hundreds of children in danger of sexual, and emotional abuse each year. Millions of tax payer dollars have been invested in these seven states to come into compliance, yet at the 11th hour, these states can just throw their hands up and say, "That's ok. We'll pass on this one." That is unacceptable.

What You Can Do Today
Tweet the Governors of these states with the following messages:

Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed to end sexual abuse behind bars. Act now to #endprisonrape http://tinyurl.com/lcr7jyb

PREA would help the more than 2million people behind bars including the 100K youth in jails & prisons every day http://tinyurl.com/lcr7jyb #ImplementPREA

PREA will ensure states will work to detect, prevent & respond to sexual abuse in jails and prisons #ImplementPREA http://tinyurl.com/lcr7jyb

Theres No Excuse! Protect Children from Rape in Adult Jails & Prisons. Take Action TODAY: http://tinyurl.com/lcr7jyb #ImplementPREA

GOVERNORS
Indiana: Mike Pence @GovPenceIN
Utah: Gary Herbert @GoveHerbert
Florida: Rick Scott @FLGovScott
Texas: Rick Perry @GovernorPerry
Arizona: Jan Brewer @GovBrewer
Indiana: Butch Otter @ButchOtter
Nebraska: Dave Heineman @Gov_Heineman

For more information on PREA, please check out our website: www.cfyj.org/preac and Facebook and Twitter pages!