SCI Pine Grove hosted a PREA training audit for the Auditor Field Training Program (FTP) on behalf of the National Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Resource Center (PRC). The training audit was in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ) and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
The facility's training audit took place Feb. 3 – 8, and served as a site for six auditor candidates who are required to participate in a FTP training audit as a condition of certification. The FTP provides direct field auditing experience in a supervised and supported environment for US DOJ-certified PREA auditor candidates. The goals of the FTP are to strengthen auditor candidates' PREA auditing skills, improve understanding of the standards, increase experience with the PREA auditing process and methodology and allow for hands-on use of the audit instrument.
The training audit followed the course of a typical PREA audit, which includes three phases: pre-audit, onsite audit and post-audit. Auditor candidates performed the work of the audit through all phases, with oversight, mentoring and review provided by an experienced field training auditor. The training audit is not an actual audit that meets the requirement that the facility be audited according to the PREA standards, but it very closely mimics a true audit and the results will be helpful to assess and prepare for the facility's readiness for compliance.
The facility will receive a written interim report and corrective action recommendations from the audit team. This report will not be an actual report for the purposes of complying with the PREA audit standards and is not intended to be published by the facility. The intent of the written report is to provide the facility with thorough and helpful feedback on its compliance with the standards. Once the report is delivered, the PREA Resource Center will provide up to 20 hours of technical assistance to help develop action steps based on report recommendations, and to assist with post-audit implementation. There is no cost to facilities for participating in this unique training.