STATE OF INDIANA

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

State House, Second Floor
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
May 15,2014
The Honorable Eric H. Holder
United States Attorney General
U.S. Deprutment of Justice
950 Pennsylvania A venue NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
Dear Attorney General Holder:
Michael R. Pence
Governor
The intent of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) suppmts a goal we all share: to
prevent sexual assault against incarcerated persons. Our evolving standards of decency
require all civic leaders to stdve to find new and better ways to protect all citizens,
including those incarcerated in prison and jails. Despite PREA's good intentions, the
law's standards and the timeline set for full compliance recently adopted by the
Department of Justice cannot be met.
A number ofPREA guidelines conflict with other federal regulations, as well as state
laws and other nationally recognized detention standards. These conflicts would, in all
likelihood, increase Indiana's exposure to litigation and liability. There is little empirical
data showing these standards to be effective. Other standards appear to promote rather
than eliminate misconduct and assault in prison.
To attain the required full compliance, many additional staff would need to be hired,
additional equipment installed, and resources put in place. This would require a
redirection of millions of tax dollars currently supporting other critical needs for Indiana.
Yom office has called upon every governor to certify that all facilities under their control
are fully compliant with PREA standruds by May 15,2014. Regardless of the roadblocks
to compliance, there has been no opportunity to audit all of Indiana's 25 state facilities,
and 115 lockups, so it is not possible to report accurately the extent to which Indiana has
achieved compliance. PREA standards require facility audits by certified auditors, yet
the first auditors were not certified by the U.S. Department of Justice until after the
timeline for audits began in 2013. There .. are cunently only enough certified auditors
nationwide to audit a small percentage of facilities in this short timeframe. This
expectation is even more unreasonable given the fact that there is still no approved PREA
audit tool pertaining to community confinement and lockup facilities.
Indiana has taken action on its own to change policies and practices in response to PREA.
But sweeping mandatory standards like those recently established, work only to bind the
states, and hinder the evolution of even better and safer practices. I encourage the
administration to reexamine cunent expectations, and provide states greater discretion to
implement policies and practices that eliminate sexual assault against incarcerated
-
persons in ways that comport with fundamental correctional practices and make best use
of cotTectional resources.
Sincerely,
n-fLr--
Michael R. Pence
Governor of Indiana
cc: Indiana's Congressional Delegation
Bruce Lemmon, Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction
rts/mga

-