PREA Standards

PREA also created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission and charged it with developing draft standards for the elimination of prison rape. Those standards were published in June 2009, and were turned over to the Department of Justice for review and passage as a final rule. That final rule became effective August 20, 2012. 

Brenda V. Smith was appointed to the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission by the United States House of Representatives Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi (D. CA) and had an active role developing the current PREA Standards. The Project on Addressing Prison Rape continues to be a leader in the discussion and continues to encourage States and localities to implement the Standards.