PREA_Tri_Fold_Brochure_for_contractor-vendors-volunteers.pdf

Your Responsibilities in the

Prevention and Reporting of Sexual Misconduct with

Probation Clients

Probation staff including volunteers, contrac-tors and vendors are required to immediately report any instance of suspected or observed sexual abuse, sexual assault or sexual harass-ment verbally to a supervisor or administrator then to document the matter in writing within

24-hours.

Inform the Institution Duty Officer, any Supervisor or Administrator of the facility where the alleged abuse occurred

Report anonymously on the Proba-tion Hotline 1-(888) 296-3389

Contact the Probation Dept. PREA

Coordinator 1-714-935-7095

Orange County Child Abuse Hotline

1 (800) 207-4464

No probation staff member, individual subject to probation supervision, facility resident, volun-teer, or collaborative partner will be subject to retaliation for acting in good faith to intervene in, report or document any incident of sexual abuse, sexual assault or sexual harassment.

How to report observed or suspected incidents of sexual abuse, assault, and/or harassment

For Volunteers, Contractors, Collaborative Partners and Vendors of the Orange County Probation

Department

Orange County Probation Department currently partners with the following agencies for victim support:

Waymakers

24-Hour Crisis Hotlines

(714) 957-2737

(949) 831-9110

Report any concern of sexual misconduct:

http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Probation

PREA Coordinator : (714) 567-7732

Probation Hotline 1-(833) 740-7732

This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-RP-BX-K001 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of

Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Pro-grams. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not represent the official position or policies of the United States Department of Justice.

The Orange County Probation Department has a zero toler-ance policy regarding sexual assault, sexual abuse and sex-ual harassment. Residents of probation facilities, individuals under probation supervision, probation staff, volunteers, contractors, vendors and collaborative partners have a right to an environment that is free from sexual abuse, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

Department policy and state law specifically forbids sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment between probation clients and staff. For this purpose, “staff” includes: contrac-tors, vendors, and volunteers of the Orange County Probation

Department as well as staff from other Federal, State and

Local jurisdictions. A “probation client” means someone incarcerated/detained in a correctional facility or under supervision in the community.

Sexual misconduct is defined in the Prison Rape Elimination

Act (PREA) 2003. Forms of sexual misconduct include, but are not limited to:

1. Any behavior of a sexual nature directed toward a pro-bation client by a Department staff, contract staff, ven-dor, or volunteer.

2. Inappropriate touching between probation clients and staff.

3. All completed, attempted, threatened, or requested sexual acts between Department staff, contract staff, vendor, or volunteer. and a probation client.

4. Sexual comments and conversations with sexually sug-gestive innuendos or double meanings.

5. Display or transmittal of sexually suggestive posters, objects, or messages.

The department will fully investigate and immediately address all allegations of sexual assault, sexual abuse and sexual harassment to include criminal and administrative sanctions as appropriate.

An Abuse of Power

Due to the imbalance of power between probation clients and staff in correctional settings, sexual interactions between staff (who have power) and probation clients (who lack power) are unprofes-sional, unethical, and illegal.

Some probation clients who lack power may become sexually in-volved with staff in an effort to equalize the imbalance of power.

Occasionally a probation client may try to use sex to improve his/ her standing or circumstances (e.g., better job, avoid disciplinary action, affect a release plan, gain privileges, etc.).

As a Probation Department contractor, vendor or volunteer, your assignments can place you in a position of authority over the clients with whom you interact in a professional capacity. It is not possible to have a relationship as equals because you have a responsibility to maintain custody, evaluate work performance, and/or provide input to issues that affect release dates, return to prison, or other sanctions.

Because of the imbalance of power between clients and staff, ven-dors, contractors and volunteers, there can never be a consensual relationship between staff and clients. In fact, ‘consent’ is not a defense to prosecution.

History of Victimization

Some staff don’t think of clients as “victims” of staff sexual miscon-duct, especially when the client appears to be a willing participant or even initiated the sexual or ‘romantic’ interactions with a staff member. The client is always the victim because of the imbalance of power. The consent or willingness of a client to participate may be a survival strategy or a learned response to previous or current victimization.

Many clients have a history of victimization (physical and/or sexual abuse), which may make them especially vulnerable to the sexual overtures of persons in positions of authority. Their perception of affection/love may be skewed by this background of abuse, making it impossible for them to refuse advances of a staff member. In some instances, particularly for female clients, their survival in the community has been directly related to using their sexuality to obtain the means to survive. Coupled with low self-esteem, this carries over into their conduct in prison and while under community supervision.

As the person in authority, it is your responsibility to discourage, refuse and report any overtures as well as maintain professional boundaries at all times.

Boundaries in relationships can be difficult. If you question your professional boundaries with an client or feel uncom-fortable with his/her actions or advances toward you, talk to another person you respect and/or bring this matter to the attention of a Probation supervisor or administrator before it gets out of control.

Red Flags:

The following are behaviors or ‘red flags’ that may signal you or someone you work with is in danger of engaging in sexual misconduct with a client:

Spending a lot of time with a particular client Change in appearance of a client or staff member Deviating from agency policy for the benefit of a par-ticular client Sharing personal information with a client Horseplay Doing favors for a client Consistently volunteering for a particular assignment or shift Coming to work early/staying at work late Flirting with a client

Overlooking infractions of a particular client

Staff Sexual Misconduct

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