SCI Pine Grove was selected to serve as a Field Training Audit (FTA) location by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Resource Center in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice. The FTA will occur February 4 – February 8, 2019.
A field training audit is similar to an actual PREA audit except that the audit is conducted as a training experience for newly DOJ-certified PREA auditor candidates. The goal of the FTP is to strengthen auditor candidates' PREA auditing skills, improve understanding of the standards, increase experience with the PREA auditing process and methodology, and attain hands-on experience with the audit instrument.
In 2018, SCI Pine Grove is one of eight facilities selected out of more than 30 interested facilities nationwide, to be selected as a PREA Audit Field Training location in 2018-2019.
Training audits closely mimic actual PREA audits and are subject to all phases - the pre-audit, onsite audit and post audit. Three teams of auditor candidates will be onsite during the FTA and will be spending extended periods of time touring common areas, housing units, select areas outside the perimeter and completing staff/inmate interviews.
The win-win component of SCI Pine Grove's FTP audit is the fact that the prison, which is scheduled to have an actual PREA audit in May, can correct any deficiencies identified by newly trained auditors who are directly managed by PREA Resource Officials – the oversight authority of all PREA audits.