Carceral safety in a post-PREA era: An examination of perceptual indicators of safety among incarcerated persons in four southeast prisons

Abstract

Since the inception of the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), its reception has been notably ambivalent among practitioners and scholars. While this policy was promoted as a means of enhancing safety in carceral facilities, some view it as a superfluous inconvenience. Unfortunately, the intended beneficiaries of PREA have been largely excluded from this discourse. The current study addresses this gaping oversight by examining perceptual predictors of safety among those housed across four prisons in a southeastern state. Using survey data collected from more than 1500 incarcerated men, this study examines the relationship between self-reported safety indicators and a variety of policy compliance proxies, facility resource measures, interpersonal relationships between staff and inmates, and other relevant themes. The results of this study reveal that some measures of PREA compliance, specifically investigation efficiency and knowledge of the reporting process, are positively related to the respondent's sense of safety from inmate violence as well as safety from staff violence. Prison resources, staff interactions, exposure to violence, and other notable predictors are also significantly related to safety perceptions. These findings underscore the importance of the quality of PREA implementation in conjunction with resource sufficiency and constructive interactions with staff.