Following increasing national awareness of sexual abuse in the nation's prisons and jails, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003. The legislation aimed to curb prison rape through a "zero-tolerance" policy, national standards, data collection, and external auditing. The legislation authorized the creation the National Prison Rape Commission to implement the statute and recommendations for regulatory standards. In August 2012, the Department of Justice released the final PREA standards for three categories of entities: Adult prisons and jails, juvenile facilities, and community detention facilities. The Alaska Department of Corrections has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct.
The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) is a federal law that prohibits sexual misconduct in correctional settings such as prisons, jails, lockups, juvenile facilities, and Immigration Services/ICE detention facilities. Sexual misconduct under this law includes:
- Offender‑on‑offender sexual assault and abuse
- Staff‑on‑offender sexual misconduct (sexual/inappropriate relationships with offenders)
- Offender‑on‑offender and staff‑on‑offender sexual harassment
Offenders serving their sentence within a DOC facility are urged to report allegations of rape, sexual contact, or staff sexual misconduct to a trusted staff member, by a Request for Interview, asking a family member or friend to call to report for them, or to any staff member. Furthermore, the offenders may call a confidential PREA hotline at 761-5616.
Family and friends may report sexual misconduct of their loved ones who are incarcerated at any of the Alaska DOC facilities by calling 1-907-761-5616 or toll-free at 1-844-761-5616.
Calls to this number are recorded. Messages are checked Monday through Friday by the PREA Coordinator or assigned staff. You don't have to give your name but its critical that you provide as many details as possible. This includes:
- The name(s) and locations of persons involved
- The name(s) or description of any witnesses to the incident
- DOC number (if an offender)
- A brief description of the incident(s)
- A brief description of where the event(s) occurred
- The date(s), time and place of occurrence(s)
- Names and contact information of others who might have additional information about the incident
- Your contact phone number and address (optional)
You may also report information regarding an offender by:
Writing a letter to:
PREA
515 E. Dahlia Ave. Ste. 200
Palmer, AK 99645
Or, sending an email to:
Institutions
- Goose Creek Correctional Center -- 8/4/2014
- Palmer Correctional Center -- 8/07/2014
- Lemon Creek Correctional Center -- 8/11/2014
- Ketchikan Correctional Center -- 8/14/2014
- Fairbanks Correctional Center -- 4/04/2019
- Mat-Su Pre-Trial -- 6/03/2019
- Anchorage Correctional Complex -- 6/05/2019
- Hiland Mountain Correctional Center -- 6/11/2019
- Wildwood Correctional Center -- 07/14/2019
- Spring Creek Correctional Center -- 07/17/2019
- Anvil Mountain Correctional Center -- 10/01/2019
- Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center -- 10/04/2019
Contracted Agency Audit Reports
- Parkview Center -- 10/7/2015
- Cordova Center Community Residental Center -- 10/9/2015
- NorthStar Community Residential Center -- 8/9/2016
- Midtown Center -- 8/11/2016
- Seaside Center - 9/24/2018
- Tundra Center - 9/27/2018
- Parkview Center - 10/14/2021
- Seaside Center - 10/14/2021
- Tundra Center - 10/14/2021
- Northstar Center - 8/18/2022
- Cordova Center - 10/6/2022
- Midtown Center - 10/6/2022