TPI is filing complaints about PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) auditor failures to provide proper audits. Under PREA § 115.401(o), auditors “shall attempt to communicate with community-based or victim advocates who may have insight into relevant conditions in the facility.” TPI has seldom been contacted concerning information we have about Texas prisons, and the National PREA Resource Center, which oversees the audit process, has failed to hold auditors accountable to this requirement. TPI has developed a simple auditor tool for auditors to see current information about any unit that we have in our system, so they do not have to even contact us. They are required to list if they tried to contact others about prison information and who they contacted. We are seeing many auditors list no contacts, or contacts that are perfunctory and likely provided no information.
Content warning: Some of these letters describe threats and incidents of violence that may be disturbing. We will note whether each letter is considered a low, moderate, or high risk for being disturbing. We consider this letter to be low risk.
The following file is the TPI complaint against the auditor. The audit report by the auditor, which we feel was inappropriately considered final an accepted as documenting “compliance” with the PREA standards, can be accessed here. Some noteworthy points include:
- The auditor failed to contact sufficient community-based organizations with significant information about the conditions at Telford Unit.
- The auditor falsified information readily available concerning persons in segregated housing at the time of the audit.
- The auditor failed to conduct the absolute minimum number of required interviews with incarcerated persons; failed to interview the minimum number of lesbian, gay, or bisexual persons; failed to interview the minimum number of persons who reported sexual abuse at the facility; failed to interview the minimum number of persons who disclosed prior sexual victimization; and falsified the audit report by claiming to have completed the minimum number of interviews with incarcerated persons.
- The auditor stated that 0 persons at the facility had every been placed in segregated housing for risk of sexual victimization when in fact that statement is false.
- The auditor failed to question inconceivably low rates of substantiation concerning allegations of sexual abuse and sexual harassment.
- PREA § 115.42: Statements by the auditor, as documented in this TPI report, indicate multiple deficiencies in the auditor’s assessment of this standard. Some statements by the auditor are plainly false, some misconstrue the meaning of provisions in this standard, and the auditor fails to adequately consider some of the housing conditions for transgender persons at Telford Unit.
- PREA § 115.43: As is exhaustively documented in this TPI report, the auditor completely fails to understand or correctly apply an evaluation of protective custody as it is used in the PREA standards. The evaluation of any TDCJ facility with such an inaccurate understanding of housing assignments should be considered a failure to appropriately perform the audit.
- PREA § 115.61: The auditor failed to identify and address failures to meet this standard, as discussed in this TPI report.
- PREA § 115.64: The auditor failed to address the auditor’s own statement that in only about one-third of the reports did first responders separate the survivor from their assailant. That statement indicates noncompliance. Based on the information provided by the auditor, Telford Unit cannot be assessed as meeting this standard.
- PREA § 115.67: The auditor failed to identify and address clear cases of staff retaliation that indicate Telford Unit cannot be found to meet this standard.
- PREA § 115.68: As with §§ 115.42 and 115.43, the failure of the auditor to adequately address protective custody as it is used in TDCJ and at Telford Unit means based on the information in the auditor’s report, Telford Unit cannot be assessed as meeting this standard.
- PREA § 115.72: The rates of substantiation presented by the auditor indicate Telford Unit is not using appropriate evidentiary standards, and thus cannot meet compliance with this standard.
- PREA § 115.82: As discussed in this TPI report, Telford Unit staff have interfered with access to emergency medical services, and there are indications staff have manipulated documentation to misrepresent the deficiency.