For The Prevention, Detection, Response, and Monitoring of
Sexual Abuse in:

Adult Prisons and Jails

V. Supplemental Standards for Facilities with
Immigration Detainees

Compliance with PREA Standards 

Adult immigrants detained pending determination of whether their presence in the United States is legal are in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but they are held in a wide variety of settings, including local jails, State and Federal prisons, privately run prisons, facilities run by ICE called detention facilities and service processing centers, and short-term detention settings run by Customs and Border Protection. At the time of publication of this body of standards, families with children detained together are held in one of two family facilities that operate under contract with ICE.

Unaccompanied immigrant and refugee minors are the only group of immigration detainees who are not in ICE custody, but rather under the care and custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Division of Unaccompanied Children’s Services. ORR places these minors in a variety of settings, including foster care, shelters, group homes, and secure juvenile detention facilities.

These supplemental standards for facilities with immigration detainees must be enforced on behalf of all people detained solely by ICE, regardless of where they are detained. In other words, they must be enforced in any facility that is run by ICE or contracts with ICE to hold immigration detainees. They must also be enforced on behalf of all unaccompanied children in ORR custody. These standards do not apply to inmates in lockups, jails, or prisons who also happen to have an immigration detainer or warrant lodged by ICE. As long as an inmate is being held on criminal charges or is serving a sentence for a criminal charge, he or she will not be considered an immigration detainee for purposes of the standards. However, these standards do apply to persons in the custody of ICE due to ICE’s commencement of removal proceedings on the basis of their past criminal conduct.

Standards developed pursuant to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) must be enforced on behalf of immigration detainees according to the settings in which they are detained. As a starting point, the standards that apply to inmates in lockups, jails, and prisons must be applied to all immigration detainees as well. These supplemental standards create additional requirements that must be met along with the requirements laid out in the inmate standards. So, ICE-run detention facilities and service processing centers must comply with the standards for adult prisons and jails as well as these supplemental standards. Customs and Border Protection facilities must comply with the standards for lockups as long as detainees are held there for less than 72 hours, but they must comply with standards for adult prisons and jails whenever detainees are held beyond 72 hours. Customs and Border Protection facilities also must comply with these supplemental standards. Shelters under contract with ORR to house unaccompanied minors must comply with the standards for community corrections, which include some special provisions for juveniles in a community corrections setting, along with these supplemental standards. Secure juvenile detention facilities that house unaccompanied minors for ORR must comply with the juvenile detention standards, along with these supplemental standards. Finally, the two family facilities must comply with the adult prison and jail standards, along with the supplemental standards for immigration detainees and those supplements and one modification laid out specifically for family facilities in IDFF-1 through IDFF-4.

Standards Compliance Grid
Detention setting	PREA standards that apply
Adult prison (Federal, State, or private), adult jail, or other pretrial detention setting (Federal, State, or private)	Adult prison and jail standards and supplemental standards for immigration detainees
Police lockup	Lockup standards and supplemental standards for immigration detainees
ICE detention facilities and service processing centers	Adult prison and jail standards and supplemental standards for immigration detainees
Customs and Border Protection facilities that house detainees for less than 72 hours	Lockup standards and supplemental standards for immigration detainees
Customs and Border Protection facilities that house detainees for 72 hours or more	Adult prison and jail standards and supplemental standards for immigration detainees
ICE family facilities	Adult prison and jail standards, supplemental standards for immigration detainees, and supplemental standards for family facilities
ORR contract shelters	Community corrections standards and supplemental standards for immigration detainees
ORR juvenile detention facilities	Juvenile detention standards and supplemental standards for immigration detainees

(ID)

Supplemental Standards  

Although immigrants are detained in many different settings, preventing and responding to sexual abuse of immigration detainees in confinement requires special attention to the particular vulnerabilities of this population in any setting. In addition to meeting the appropriate standards for a given confinement setting, facilities that house immigration detainees must meet the following supplemental standards.

(ID1)

Supplement to RP-2: Agreements with outside public entities and community service providers

Any facility that houses immigration detainees maintains or attempts to enter into memoranda of understanding (MOUs) or other agreements with one or more local or, if not available, national organizations that provide legal advocacy and confidential emotional support services for immigrant victims of crime (RE-3, MM-3). The agency maintains copies of agreements or documentation showing attempts to enter into agreements.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does the facility maintain or attempt to enter into at least one MOU or other agreement with a local or national organization that provides legal advocacy and confidential emotional support services for immigration detainees or immigrant victims of crime?
(b) Does the agency maintain copies of agreements or documentation showing attempts to enter into agreements?

Discussion

Immigration detainees face a unique set of challenges when they are victims of a crime in custody. They do not have access to legal representation, they very often have been cut off from family support, and they are being prosecuted for removal from the country by ICE, which is also responsible for their care in custody. Furthermore, they may be linguistically and culturally isolated in the detention setting. Although special training requirements for employees who interact with immigration detainees, including medical and mental health practitioners, are intended to ensure that employees have some understanding of the attitudes and perceptions that people from different cultures have toward sexual abuse, it is still very likely that detainees who are victims of sexual abuse will not feel comfortable talking about the abuse to anyone inside the facility. Providing interpretive services can overcome language barriers, but mental health practitioners in the facility will not be able to communicate adequately with detainees if they must rely on an interpreter and if they do not share similar cultural understandings about sex and sexual abuse. It is also likely that prisoner advocacy groups in the community do not have the cultural competency to adequately assist and counsel immigration detainees. For these reasons, it is essential that any facility housing immigration detainees have an existing agreement with an organization that has experience providing legal advocacy and support for immigration detainees or immigrants who are victims of crime.

For correctional agencies that successfully enter into agreements with outside agencies, the Commission recommends that agreements contain the following elements: (1) the purpose of the agreement; (2) the respective roles and responsibilities of the detaining agency and outside organization; (3) the means by which detainees will be able to contact the outside agency; (4) the procedures for how and when outside advocates or service providers are able to gain entry into a facility; (5) the level of security supervision outside advocates or service providers will have while in a facility; and (6) any laws, rules, and/or regulations relevant to the service being provided, including laws granting privilege and agency rules governing confidentiality for disclosures about sexual abuse made to outside advocates or service providers.

(ID2)

Supplement to TR-1, TR-4, and TR-5: Employee training and specialized
training of investigators and medical and mental health care

Any facility that holds immigration detainees provides special additional training to employees, including medical and mental health practitioners and investigators. This additional training includes the following topics: cultural sensitivity toward diverse understandings of acceptable and unacceptable sexual behavior, appropriate terms and concepts to use when discussing sex and sexual abuse with a culturally diverse population, sensitivity and awareness regarding past trauma that may have been experienced by immigration detainees, and knowledge of all existing resources for immigration detainees both inside and outside the facility that provide treatment and counseling for trauma and legal advocacy for victims.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does employee training, as well as specialized training for medical and mental health practitioners and investigators, include a component that addresses the following topics?
• Cultural sensitivity toward diverse understandings of acceptable and unacceptable sexual behavior
• Appropriate terms and concepts to use when discussing sex and sexual abuse with a culturally diverse population
• Sensitivity and awareness regarding past traumas that may have been experienced by immigration detainees
• Knowledge of all existing resources for immigration detainees both inside and outside the facility that provide treatment and counseling for trauma and legal advocacy for victims

Discussion

Although language is a significant barrier to communication with many immigration detainees, it can be easier to overcome than the cultural differences in perceptions about sexual abuse, understandings about what kinds of behavior are acceptable or unacceptable, and even the terminology and concepts that are used to describe different kinds of sexual behavior. In addition, many immigrants in detention have fled war or persecution or have suffered some kind of trauma in their travels to this country. The combination of cultural isolation with the impact of previous traumas can make it extremely unlikely that immigration detainees will feel comfortable reporting or discussing sexual abuse that happens to them in custody. Employees who interact with immigration detainees should receive training developed by someone who has experience working with people from the cultures represented among detainees. The training should provide explicit guidance about the appropriate terms and concepts to use and ways of communicating when discussing sex and sexual abuse with immigration detainees. It is particularly important that medical and mental health practitioners and investigators who interact with immigration detainees receive this special training because communication is essential to their ability to do their jobs. Employees who are culturally competent and have access to appropriate interpretive or language translation services will be better equipped to protect the safety of immigration detainees.

(ID3)

Supplement to TR-3: Inmate education

Sexual abuse education (TR-3) for immigration detainees is provided at a time and in a manner that is separate from information provided about their immigration cases, in detainees’ own languages and in terms that are culturally appropriate, and is conducted by a qualified individual with experience communicating about these issues with a diverse population.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does the facility provide sexual abuse education for immigration detainees at a time and in a manner that is separate from information it provides about their immigration cases?
(b) Are immigration detainees educated on the topics listed in the compliance checklist for TR-3 in their own language and using terms that are culturally appropriate?
(c) Is the sexual abuse education component for immigration detainees developed and conducted by a qualified individual with experience communicating about these issues with a diverse immigrant population?

Discussion

The education that is provided to immigration detainees should be tailored to this population, not only through interpretation of the languages spoken by detainees but through adaptation to appropriate terminology and concepts that address cultural differences in understanding about sex and sexual abuse. Immigration detainees should be informed of the support services that are available to them in the event they become victims of a crime in custody and given explicit instructions on how to access those services. The facility should be very clear about its zero-tolerance policy toward sexual abuse. Many immigration detainees are disoriented when they first enter custody and focused on learning about their immigration case, so it is important that notification about the zero-tolerance policy and more detailed education about sexual abuse be provided at times and in a manner that they can absorb and appreciate.

(ID4)

Detainee handbook

Every detainee is provided with an ICE Detainee Handbook upon admission to the facility, and a replacement is provided whenever a detainee’s handbook is lost or damaged. The Detainee Handbook contains notice of the agency’s zero-tolerance policy toward sexual abuse and contains all the agency’s policies related to sexual abuse, including information about how to report an incident of sexual abuse and the detainees’ rights and responsibilities related to sexual abuse. The Detainee Handbook will inform immigration detainees how to contact organizations in the community that provide sexual abuse counseling and legal advocacy for detainee victims of sexual abuse. The Detainee Handbook will also inform detainees how to contact the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and diplomatic or consular personnel.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does the facility provide every detainee with an ICE Detainee Handbook upon admission and provide a replacement whenever a detainee’s handbook is lost or damaged?
(b) Does the ICE Detainee Handbook contain the following?
• Notice of the agency’s zero-tolerance policy toward sexual abuse
• All of the agency’s policies related to sexual abuse, including information about how to report an incident of sexual abuse and the detainees’ rights and responsibilities related to sexual abuse
• Information about how to contact organizations in the community that provide counseling and legal advocacy for detainee victims of sexual abuse
• Information about how to contact the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the DHS OIG, and diplomatic or consular personnel from the detainee’s country of citizenship

Discussion

ICE’s National Detention Standards, most recently updated in 2008, require that all immigration detainees be provided with a Detainee Handbook at the facility where they are detained. This handbook is the best means to convey important information about detainees’ rights and responsibilities and the best means to convey information detainees need to remain safe from sexual abuse during their detention. Therefore, this standard requires that all information that is relevant to protect detainees from sexual abuse and all information detainees should know in the event that sexual abuse occurs be provided in the Detainee Handbook. This requires that the facility’s zero-tolerance policy toward sexual abuse be provided, along with any other policies that pertain to the prevention of or response to sexual abuse in the facility. The Detainee Handbook must contain information about how to report sexual abuse, how to access confidential legal and counseling services outside of the facility, how to contact the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the DHS OIG, and how to contact diplomatic or consular personnel from detainees’ countries of origin.

(ID5)

Supplement to SC-1: Screening for risk of victimization and abusiveness

The facility makes every reasonable effort to obtain institutional and criminal records of immigration detainees in its custody prior to screening for risk of victimization and abusiveness. Screening of immigration detainees is conducted by employees who are culturally competent.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Has the facility made every reasonable effort to obtain institutional or criminal records of all immigration detainees in its custody?
(b) Is screening of immigration detainees conducted by an employee who is culturally competent?

Discussion

Standard ID-6 requires that all immigration detainees be housed separately from the general inmate population. This separation should happen at intake, and standard SC-2 requires that the screening process be used to make more specific housing assignments within the area of the facility where immigration detainees are held. Often there are few or no records of an immigration detainee’s history, including criminal history, available to the facility. Immigration detainees can have extremely different backgrounds and experiences, none of which may be immediately obvious to employees who conduct the screening. For instance, asylum seekers likely have no criminal history and may have suffered terrible violence or other trauma in their countries of origin. Other immigration detainees who have been in this country for a period of time may have significant criminal histories and spent time in prison or jail. ICE separates immigration detainees based on its own security classifications. However, it is important that employees who screen immigration detainees at the facility that receives them complete their own thorough assessment of the likelihood that a particular detainee is vulnerable to sexual abuse or likely to engage in sexually abusive behavior.

Facilities that house immigration detainees should make every effort to gather information about detainees’ histories by requesting records from any institutions where they are known to have been previously detained or incarcerated. Currently, validated criteria to determine vulnerability to sexual abuse or likelihood of engaging in sexually abusive behavior that are specific to immigration detainees do not exist, so employees will have to base their determinations about potential victimization or abusiveness on generally established criteria. However, it is important that employees be educated about cultural differences in the ways that people perceive and express their experiences, and employees should learn how to communicate effectively with a culturally diverse population. Employees should know how to ask immigration detainees about experiences with past sexual abuse in a manner that is culturally appropriate and with an understanding of the types of abuse that are more commonly experienced by immigrants who may have fled war or persecution or have been trafficked for sex work.

(ID6)

Supplement to SC-2: Use of screening information

Any facility that houses both inmates and immigration detainees houses all immigration detainees separately from other inmates in the facility and provides heightened protection for immigration detainees who are identified as particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse by other detainees through the screening process (SC-1). To the extent possible, immigration detainees have full access to programs, education, and work opportunities.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does the facility house all immigration detainees separately from other inmates?
(b) Does the facility provide heightened protection for immigration detainees identified as particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse by other detainees?
(c) Do immigration detainees have full access to programs, education, and work opportunities?

Discussion

Immigration detainees are a particularly vulnerable group in confinement settings. Many have no criminal history, some are refugees seeking asylum from war or persecution, and those with criminal histories may be vulnerable due to cultural and linguistic isolation within the confinement setting. Furthermore, fear of removal and the uncertainty surrounding their immigration cases can make many immigration detainees, with or without criminal histories, reluctant to speak out about any abuse they experience in custody. ICE currently classifies immigration detainees into three security categories and does not house the highest security detainees, those with significant criminal histories, with the lowest security detainees. Although it is appropriate to make security distinctions among immigration detainees, it is not appropriate to house any immigration detainees with general population inmates. This does not mean that immigration detainees cannot be housed in a facility with inmates, but that the facility houses immigration detainees in cells or areas of the facility that allow for no unsupervised contact between immigration detainees and inmates. As with any vulnerable population within the facility, it is important that separate housing for immigration detainees does not lead to isolation or a lack of access to the privileges that would be available to them in the general population.

Those detainees who have been classified by ICE as the lowest security risk should not be placed in settings with the least surveillance or supervision, which may put them at greater risk for abuse. When employees identify vulnerable detainees, they should take additional steps to provide heightened protection for these detainees. When feasible, they should place them in single cells or areas where security staff can provide continuous direct sight and sound supervision.

(ID7)

Supplement to RE-1: Inmate reporting

The agency provides immigration detainees with access to telephones with free, preprogrammed numbers to ICE’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the DHS OIG. In addition, the agency must provide immigration detainees with a list of phone numbers for diplomatic or consular personnel from their countries of citizenship and access to telephones to contact such personnel.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does the facility or agency provide all immigration detainees with access to free, preprogrammed telephone lines to the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the OIG, which are prepared to receive and investigate reports of sexual abuse in custody?
(b) Does the facility or agency provide a list of phone numbers to diplomatic or consular personnel from detainees’ countries of citizenship and access to telephones to contact such personnel?

Discussion

Immigration detainees must be able to report sexual abuse directly to ICE’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and to DHS OIG. Although immigration detainees are held by a wide variety of facilities all over the country, both the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and OIG have authority to investigate abuse in the operations of DHS. This does not preclude immigration detainees from reporting sexual abuse through any of the internal avenues provided by the adult prison and jail standards. However, the standards require that every facility give inmates the ability to report sexual abuse to an outside public entity or office not affiliated with the agency or facility, and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, as well as DHS OIG, are the appropriate entities to receive and respond to reports by immigration detainees. Providing immigration detainees with a direct telephone line to the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and OIG will ensure that when they do not feel safe using other reporting mechanisms within the facility, they will have the ability to report directly to a centralized governmental office with direct authority to investigate the report. For this reporting mechanism to be effective, both the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and OIG will need to be prepared to receive such reports and initiate investigations immediately upon receiving them.

In addition, immigration detainees should have access to diplomatic or consular personnel from their country of citizenship in the event they wish to report sexual abuse during detention. Facilities are required by this standard to provide phone numbers to immigration detainees upon admission and access to telephones at all times that would allow them to call the appropriate diplomatic or consular personnel.

(ID8)

Supplement to RE-3: Inmate access to outside confidential support services

All immigration detainees have access to outside victim advocates who have experience working with immigration detainees or immigrant victims of crime for emotional support services related to sexual abuse. The facility provides such access by giving immigration detainees the current mailing addresses and telephone numbers, including toll-free hotline numbers, of local, State, and/or national organizations that provide these services and enabling reasonable communication between immigration detainees and these organizations. The facility ensures that communications with such advocates is private, confidential, and privileged to the extent allowable by Federal, State, and local law. The facility informs immigration detainees, prior to giving them access, of the extent to which such communications will be private, confidential, and/or privileged.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does the facility provide immigration detainees with the current mailing addresses and telephone numbers, including toll-free hotline numbers, of local, State, and/or national victim advocacy or rape crisis organizations that have experience working with immigration detainees or immigrant victims of crime and enable reasonable communication between inmates and these organizations? (Please attach documentation explaining how the facility provides immigration detainees with access to outside confidential support services related to sexual abuse.)
(b) Are immigration detainees able to communicate with outside victim advocates privately in settings in which conversations cannot be overheard?
(c) To ensure privacy of communication, is staff prohibited from reading correspondence to or from victim advocates?
(d) Does the facility explain to immigration detainees, prior to giving them access to outside support services, the rules governing privacy, confidentiality, and/or privilege that apply for disclosures of sexual abuse made to outside victim advocates, including any limits to confidentiality under relevant Federal, State, or local law?

Discussion

Immigration detainees should have access to the same outside advocacy and/or rape crisis organizations for confidential emotional support that are available to inmates, and for this to be meaningful, the facility must identify local, State, or national organizations that have experience working with immigration detainees or immigrant victims of crime. Once the facility has identified an appropriate advocacy organization to work with immigration detainees, it may need to enter an MOU with that organization and may find it useful to provide regular opportunities for immigration detainees to meet face-to-face with advocates (ID-2).

Telephone use to contact outside advocates and/or letters sent to service organizations should not be subject to any rules or restrictions governing telephone use or mail. Administrators need to make certain that immigration detainees are able to access outside confidential support services as easily and as privately as possible. Immigration detainees should never have to explain to staff members their reasons for wanting to speak or write to outside advocates before being allowed to communicate with those providers.

(ID9)

Protection of detainee victims and witnesses

ICE never removes from the country or transfers to another facility immigration detainees who report sexual abuse before the investigation of that abuse is completed, except at the detainee victim’s request. ICE considers releasing detainees who are victims of or witnesses to abuse and monitoring them in the community to protect them from retaliation or further abuse during the course of the investigation.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does ICE have a plan for ensuring immigration detainees who report sexual abuse are never transferred to other facilities or deported before the investigation into the abuse has been completed, except at the detainee victim’s request?
(b) Has ICE established objective criteria for determining when protecting the safety of an immigration detainee victim or witness requires release from custody and community monitoring?

Discussion

Immigration detainees can be in detention for short periods of time before they are removed from the country and, during that time, they are often transferred from one facility to another. Investigators need to be able to speak in person with victims and witnesses to complete a thorough investigation into the alleged sexual abuse. Furthermore, although transfer may seem necessary to protect a detainee victim, immigration detainees generally cannot defend their immigration case if they are moved at a distance from their lawyers. Removal proceedings against detainees who report sexual abuse should be halted at least until the investigation has been completed and a finding has been made. Immigrants who are victims of certain sex crimes may be eligible for a special visa that allows them to remain in the country, so it is important that an investigative finding be made while the victim still has an opportunity to apply for such a visa.

It may be very difficult for ICE officials to ensure the safety of detainee victims or witnesses of sexual abuse in custody, particularly because the majority of detainees are held in local jails and private contract facilities and are not under ICE’s direct control. ICE should make a case-by-case determination about whether to release victims and witnesses by balancing the danger the detainee may face in custody, the ability of the facility to protect that detainee without transferring or isolating him or her, the potential threat the detainee poses to the community, and the burden of monitoring the individual in the community as an alternative. In many cases, it may be safer and less burdensome to the facility to release the detainee who has been a victim of or witnessed sexual abuse in custody and for ICE to monitor him or her in the community. ICE has the capacity to make such determinations on a case-by-case basis, and the merits of the detainee’s immigration case should not be taken into consideration when doing so.

(ID10)

Supplement to MM-3: Ongoing medical and mental health care for sexual abuse victims and abusers

All immigration detainees are counseled about the immigration consequences of a positive HIV test at the time they are offered HIV testing.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Are immigration detainees counseled about the immigration consequences of a positive HIV test at the time they are offered HIV testing?

Discussion

In July 2008, Congress repealed the statutory ban against visits or migration to the United States by HIV-positive individuals. However, at the time these standards were drafted, HHS had yet to rewrite its regulations to comply with the change in the law. The result is that a de facto ban remains in place. There is every expectation that this will change. However, even when HHS changes its policies, immigrants seeking legal status in the United States who are known to be HIV-positive will have to seek a waiver from HHS to do so, as all people with communicable diseases are required to do. Standard MM-3 calls for all victims of sexual abuse to be counseled and tested for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Because of the potential consequences of a positive test for an immigration detainee, it is important that detainees make an informed decision about whether to be tested or not. Medical practitioners should be informed of the most current state of the law regarding HIV status and its consequences for immigration detainees and inform immigration detainees of these consequences whenever an HIV test is offered.

(ID11)

Supplement to DC-2: Data collection

The facility collects additional data whenever an immigration detainee is the victim or perpetrator of an incident of sexual abuse in custody. The additional incident-based data collected indicate whether the victim and/or perpetrator was an immigration detainee, his or her status at the initiation of the investigation, and his or her status at the conclusion of the investigation.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Do the incident-based data include the following information?
• Whether the victim and/or perpetrator was an immigration detainee
• If the victim and/or perpetrator was an immigration detainee, his or her status at the initiation of an investigation (e.g., in custody, released, or removed from the country)
• If the victim and/or perpetrator was an immigration detainee, his or her status at the conclusion of an investigation (e.g., in custody, released, or removed from the country)

Discussion

Victimization of and by immigration detainees must be tracked as part of a facility’s data collection efforts pursuant to PREA.

(IDFF)

Supplemental Standards for Family Facilities  

The following standards must be followed in ICE family facilities.

(IDFF1)

Screening of immigration detainees in family facilities (This standard replaces rather than supplements SC-1 and SC-2)

Family facilities develop screening criteria to identify those families and family members who may be at risk of being sexually victimized that will not lead to the separation of families. Housing, program, educational, and work assignments are made in a manner that protects families and in all cases prioritizes keeping families together.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Has the family facility developed screening criteria to identify those families and family members who may be at risk of being sexually victimized that will not lead to the separation of families?
(b) Are housing, program, educational, and work assignments made in a manner that protects families and places the priority on keeping families together?

Discussion

Much of the criteria that are used to screen adult and juvenile detainees in prison and detention settings and used to make housing and other assignments within those facilities are entirely inappropriate for making housing or other decisions within family facilities. The purpose of family facilities is to keep families together, so separation cannot be accomplished on the basis of age, gender, or sexuality. There is little or no research to suggest the appropriate criteria family facilities should use to assure that families or family members who are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse are not housed in areas of the facility, or pods, with people who are more likely to be abusive. Children in family facilities attend school, and families participate in recreational activities together. It is not clear what criteria should be used to determine how to separate potentially vulnerable children and families from potential abusers. Those agencies that run family facilities should develop appropriate criteria to identify families and family members who are more vulnerable within the facility, but in all cases, the priority when making assignments should be to strengthen the family, keep family members together, and empower parents to protect their children.

(IDFF2)

Reporting of sexual abuse in family facilities

The facility provides parents with the ability to report sexual abuse in a manner that is confidential from their children. The facility also provides children with the ability to report abuse by a parent confidentially to staff.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Does the facility provide parents with the ability to report sexual abuse in a manner that is confidential from their children?
(b) Does the facility provide children with the ability to report abuse by a parent confidentially to staff?

Discussion

Because parents and children are held together in a locked setting, it may be difficult for them to have confidential conversations with staff. However, it is essential that opportunities for confidential reporting of sexual abuse be made available both to parents and to their children.

(IDFF3)

Investigations in family facilities

Parents are questioned confidentially by investigators about any incident of sexual abuse, away from their children. A parent or parents are present when a child is questioned by investigators about any incident of sexual abuse, unless (1) the child has alleged abuse by the parent or (2) staff suspects abuse by the parent. The decision to exclude a parent from an interview based on staff suspicion of abuse by that parent is always made by a qualified mental health practitioner.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Do investigators always question a parent about sexual abuse in a confidential manner away from the parent’s children?
(b) Are parents allowed to be present whenever a child is questioned about an incident of sexual abuse, except in the following circumstances?
• The child has alleged abuse by the parent
• Staff suspects abuse by the parent
(c) In the event that staff suspects abuse by a parent, is the decision to exclude that parent from an interview by an investigator always made by a qualified mental health practitioner?

Discussion

Family facilities should be sensitive to a family’s need to protect children from learning about sexual abuse that has occurred as well as parents’ need to be able to protect children who have been victims of sexual abuse or witnesses to sexual abuse. Investigations should be conducted in a manner that allows parents to protect their children from learning unnecessarily about sexual abuse that has occurred in the facility. When children are victims or witnesses, investigations should be conducted in a manner that respects the parents’ right to protect their children during the course of an investigation. Parents and children are held together in a locked setting. Therefore, accomplishing this requires extreme care and discretion on the part of investigators and other staff. Incidents of sexual abuse should not be discussed around children unless absolutely necessary because that child has been victimized or witnessed an incident of sexual abuse. When a child alleges that a parent has been sexually abusive, investigators should handle the matter differently, and the suspected parent cannot be present during questioning of the child. Similarly, if staff suspects that a parent has been sexually abusive, a qualified mental health practitioner should make a determination as to whether the suspicion warrants confidential communication with the child outside of the presence of a parent.

(IDFF4)

Access to medical and mental health care in family facilities

All family members are offered mental health counseling (as required in MM-2 and MM-3) when one family member is a victim of sexual abuse in the facility. Following an incident of sexual abuse, parents and adult family members are examined confidentially by medical and mental health practitioners and away from children. Following an incident of sexual abuse, a parent or parents are allowed to be present during all medical and mental health examinations of a minor child, unless (1) that child has alleged sexual abuse by the parent or (2) staff suspects abuse by the parent. The decision to exclude a parent from an examination based on staff suspicion of abuse by that parent is always made by a qualified mental health practitioner. In the event that a child is sexually abused, a qualified mental health practitioner interviews the child to determine whether either parent was present or aware of the abuse and whether the parent or parents were threatened in connection with the abuse.

Assessment Checklist	YES	NO
(a) Are all family members offered mental health counseling (as required in MM-2 and MM-3) when one family member is a victim of sexual abuse in the facility?
(b) Following an incident of sexual abuse, are parents allowed to be present during all medical and mental health examinations of a minor child, except in the following circumstances?
• The child has alleged sexual abuse by the parent
• Staff suspects abuse by the parent
(c) In the event that staff suspects abuse by a parent, is the decision to exclude that parent from a medical or mental health examination always made by a qualified mental health practitioner?
(d) In the event that a child is sexually abused, has a qualified mental health practitioner interviewed the child to determine whether either parent was present or aware of the abuse and whether the parent or parents were threatened in connection with the abuse?

Discussion

Family members may be traumatized by sexual abuse of another family member and therefore should be offered mental health counseling along with the victim. As explained in the discussion of IDFF-3, above, family facilities should be sensitive to a family’s need to protect children from learning about sexual abuse that has occurred as well as parents’ need to be able to protect children who have been victims of or witnesses to sexual abuse. Therefore, as with investigations, medical and mental health examinations should be conducted in a manner that protects adult family members’ confidentiality and protects children from learning unnecessarily about sexual abuse that has occurred in the facility. When children are victims of or witnesses to sexual abuse, parents must be able to observe all medical and mental health examinations. The only circumstance under which it would be inappropriate for a parent to be present during a medical or mental health examination is if the child has alleged sexual abuse by the parent or a qualified mental health practitioner has determined that there is reason to believe that the parent has been sexually abusive. Finally, in the event that a child is sexually abused in a family facility, it is the job of a qualified mental health practitioner to try to determine whether either parent was aware of the abuse and whether either parent was threatened by the abuser or others in connection with the abuse.