Just Detention International (JDI) will work with the Delaware Department of Correction (DE DOC) and the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families, Division of Youth Rehabilitative Services (DYRS) to implement an advanced culture change initiative aimed at deepening each department's efforts to prevent sexual abuse. In particular, the partners will focus on building a reporting culture through improved communication in adult and youth facilities, and increasing staff ability and willingness to be proactive in preventing and responding to sexual abuse.
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JDI travelled to Wilmington to meet with DOC agency leadership and discuss with them plans for the project and the major cultural barriers impacting the pilot facility; went to the pilot site for a tour and to convene a cross-section of facility leadership to understand barriers vis institutional culture and PREA implementation, and to measure staff buy-in to potential approaches to addressing these issues.
JDI travelled to Wilmington to meet with agency leadership as well as the leaders of 3 of the 4 pilot facilities in order to understand the institutional culture in facilities and barriers to meaningful PREA implementation; and to tour the facilities.
Held an in-depth teleconference with agency and pilot facility leadership to discuss a convening in August aimed at bringing together a slate of about 10 key officials at the pilot site to unpack some of the key concerns related to institutional culture and promoting a reporting culture.
JDI staff planned for and traveled to Milford, DE to tour Stevenson House, a juvenile detention facility of those operated by the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families. JDI had not previously visited this facility because it is located in Milford--separate from the other facilities, which are in Wilmington. In addition to touring the facility, JDI conducted informal discussion groups with staff and then with residents (separate groups of boys and girls), and also met with the facility head and the PREA Compliance Officer, to learn about the culture of the facility and the foremost challenges that leadership believes JDI could be helpful to staff in addressing.
Concerns related to sexual safety that staff and leadership identified as priorities included helping staff to: identify signs that a resident may have been a victim of human trafficking, and work professionally with LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming residents.
JDI developed and conducted a half-day workshop for leadership at SCI, the DEDOC facility which is the focus of project efforts. The focus of the workshop included assessing the facility's current institutional culture and exploring strengthening the reporting culture; strategies for communicating professionally & effectively with inmates, and
understanding trauma. The work on creating a trauma-informed environment included raising awareness about how trauma may present itself when working with inmates who are triggered by otherwise standard facility security procedures (for example, pat searches or fingerprinting). The training aimed to prepare staff to respond to such instances as signs of potential previous trauma as opposed to uncooperative behavior. The workshop also included discussion of vicarious trauma and staff coping strategies.
The workshop aimed to prepare the leaders to have additional tools to increase their staff's capacity. The evaluations of the training were very positive, with one participant commenting that the training made them think about the importance of communication and how much of a role past trauma can play in an inmate's actions.
To ensure that the training materials JDI has been developing for DYRS are in line with agency policy, JDI reviewed DYRS' PREA policy and other key provisions, such as its bodily search policies. JDI determined that there were gaps in the policy as well as ways the policy could be improved to keep residents safe and to bring the provisions more in line with the PREA standards. For example, DYRS does not currently use the PREA definitions for sexual abuse and sexual harassment in its policies and procedures. JDI therefor completed a thorough review of the PREA and related policies and appendices, and developed a set of comments and recommendations aimed at strengthening and updating the provisions.
At DYRS' request, JDI reviewed the existing staff training used for new employees. JDI determined that a lot of the information was outdated or inaccurate. With a new training class fast approaching, JDI made recommendations for ways to update the training content in a short amount of time. Following this quick review, JDI suggested that it would be important to overhaul the staff training. New employees receive 3 hours of PREA training and JDI worked diligently to develop a training that is comprehensive and interactive. In addition to the training PowerPoint, JDI developed interactive exercises and other resources to accompany the training. JDI conducted a T4T with DYRS trainers in July. This interactive session allowed participants an opportunity to review the training materials and give input on the content that proved to be very insightful.
"JDI developed four interactive resident education modules that address the required resident education of PREA standard 115.333, but also incorporate other life skills including: healthy boundaries, bullying, resilience, and self-care. The healthy boundaries and bullying modules include worksheets to reinforce the information being discussed. JDI has implemented a multi-part art therapy program in several adult facilities in other states to great success. The resilience and self-care modules utilize two of these modules whereby residents will create a piece of art that they can take back to their rooms. This seemed to be a terrific opportunity to reinforce with residents some of the work JDI has been doing with staff in terms of what healthy boundaries look like, as well as how to address trauma in a positive manner.
JDI traveled to Wilmington to conduct a train-the-trainer session for staff who will conduct the workshops, to ensure these trainers feel comfortable using the new modules. All four DYRS facilities were represented at the training and each facility came away with a set of art materials to use with residents right away. A list of art supplies was approved by DYRS as part of the module development process."
Sussex Correctional Institution (SCI) has been using peer education to provide comprehensive PREA education to all its incoming inmates for a couple of years now. While the program has been running smoothly, the DOC recognized their curriculum was outdated and asked JDI to help them update it. In addition to the necessary curriculum updates, JDI also encouraged them to expand their peer education program--which had only a single peer educator-- in order to make it more sustainable and impactful. Under JDI's guidance the facility hired three additional peer educators. It was recognized that strengthening the peer education initiative in these ways would be an important aspect of addressing the need for culture change in the facility. Efforts to more meaningfully incorporate inmates into efforts to address sexual safety and PREA implementation would help to promote a reporting culture and foster a more positive institutional culture. JDI has since completely revamped the peer education classes at SCI (using the peer education curriculum we developed under a separate PREA Resource Center grant). The revised SCI curriculum is interactive and engaging, and used the video “PREA: What You Need to Know†and a guided discussion facilitated by the peer educators. JDI also adapted for the SCI context a four-hour peer educator training that includes: PREA background information, definitions and dynamics of sexual abuse in detention, the role of the peer educator, tips and scenarios for handling disclosures of abuse and difficult classroom situations, and a review of the curriculum. For this training we created an annotated trainer’s guide for the staff liaison who will train future peer educators, as well as a handout for the peer educators with the training slides and space for notes.
JDI and DEDOC wanted to build on the work begun at the workshop JDI did with leadership from DEDOC and Sussex Correctional Institute in November 2018. At the close of that event, participants gave positive feedback that it was helpful for them to better understand the linkages between trauma and incarceration. This seemed to heighten leadership's understanding of the importance of trauma-informed communication. With input from DEDOC and Sussex on what would be most useful, JDI researched, identified and provided leadership with resources on professional and trauma-informed communication and interactions with inmates. We also researched and connected them with a contact in the field who is willing to speak with them and share strategies around ensuring safety and order in a facility, while also being mindful of the high rates of prior trauma among the inmate population. We aimed to provide resources that would support staff's awareness that a trauma-informed approach actually contributes to safety and order for staff and inmates.
After meeting with residents and staff at the three DYRS facilities and conferring with agency leadership, it became clear that despite all of the great work DYRS has done in terms of sexual safety for residents and PREA compliance, there are at least two key issues with a more intensive effort is required: working professionally and sensitively with LGBTQI youth; and addressing the prevalence of sexual abuse by female staff of male residents and the failure of some staff to maintain appropriate boundaries. In developing this training, we aimed to address those concerns, including by raising staff awareness of the importance of a trauma-informed approach to their work with the residents, and the importance of promoting a reporting culture. We conducted four training sessions (2 at the Wilmington HQ location and one in Milford, at Stevenson House). This allowed staff from various shifts to participate.
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