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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMarion County courts announced Wednesday that the Juvenile Detention Center in Indianapolis has achieved accreditation under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
PREA auditors spent two days in March at the center examining the facility, staff and records, and the center passed all 43 required standards.
“I am very proud of the hard work of our center staff to achieve this important accreditation,” supervising Judge Clark Rogers said. “Our staff works tirelessly to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all of the youth that we serve. I am pleased that the PREA auditors who visited our facility recognized this effort.”
The accreditation is a turnaround for a facility that has had high-profile problems in the past. The center experienced numerous issues highlighted in a 2006 report by the National Partnership for Juvenile Services, including over-use of room confinement, high staff turnover, and safety concerns for staff and residents.
According to the center’s Survey of Sexual Victimization provided to the Department of Justice for 2016, the center said no nonconsensual sexual acts had been reported. It also reported a handful of alleged instances of youth-on-youth abusive sexual conduct and sexual harassment, as well as four allegations of staff sexual misconduct and one allegation of staff sexual harassment, all of which were determined to be unfounded.
The center says it has a zero tolerance policy for sexual abuse and sexual harassment and reports every allegation and provides services for each victim.
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