Sex logics: Negotiating the prison rape elimination act (PREA) against its' administrative, safety, and cultural burdens

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) reforms correctional institutions via administrative mechanisms and represents a major shift in both correctional policy and workplace practice. Using qualitative data within six prisons in one U.S. state, finding suggest that staff view PREA as an administrative, safety, and cultural burden, which creates a misalignment of institutional logics. Rather than seeing themselves as central to eliminating prison sexual misconduct/violence, staff see PREA as interfering with their real custody/control work. This misalignment has major implications for the productive implementation and use of PREA and the broader shift to administrative rather than legal processes for institutional reform.

Automated summary

The study found that staff in prisons see the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) as an administrative, safety, and cultural burden, rather than seeing themselves central to eliminating prison sexual misconduct/violence. This misalignment has major implications for the implementation and use of PREA and the broader shift towards administrative rather than legal processes for institutional reform.