Miami-Dade Inmate Safety Project

The National Field-Generated Training, Technical Assistance, and Demonstration Projects Program addresses demonstrated gaps in training or technical assistance or in the knowledge base of victim service practitioners nationwide. The aim of the program is to enhance the provision of services and support to crime victims to further ensure that all victims are afforded the rights to which they are due. All initiatives are national in scope and focus on improving the capacity of victim service providers and allied practitioners in advancing rights and services for crime victims in the areas of child pornography; drunk and impaired driving; mortgage fraud; sexual assault within correctional settings; coordinated state-tribal crime victim services; long-term mental health and other consequences of mass violence; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) crime victims access to mainstream victim services; services for young male victims of color; or using technology to improve and enhance victim services.

Just Detention International (JDI) will implement a demonstration project for responding to victims of sexual violence while in a correctional setting within the Miami-Dade County jail system. The proposed Miami-Dade Inmate Safety Project will be a partnership between JDI, the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department (MDCR) and the Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center (RTC) where the project will leverage and enhance existing resources to ensure that survivors of sexual abuse housed in MDCR facilities have access to the same quality of care and services that is available to survivors in the community. JDI will develop model programs that can be replicated in other corrections systems, especially jails, nationwide. The four project goals are to: 1) develop facility-level sexual assault response teams within each MDCR facility; 2) develop and implement a confidential rape crisis counseling program available on-site to all sexual abuse survivors housed in each MDCR facility; 3) develop and implement sexual assault inmate education programs in all MDCR facilities; 4) develop a resource guide for corrections officials and sexual abuse service providers nationwide to use in establishing programs in their own communities.

ca/ncf