May 6, 2026
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report outlining challenges that could limit the effectiveness of the Bureau of Prisons’ Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) audits. Released May 5, the report, titled “Federal Prisons: Improvements Needed to Prevent, Detect, and Address Sexual Abuse,” examines weaknesses in current oversight practices. It states that “GAO is making seven recommendations to DOJ, including improving the PREA audit process; addressing risks in the audit contracts; evaluating its new file sharing system; and reviewing the PREA Standards to better prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse.”
Read the report at: Federal Prisons: Improvements Needed to Prevent, Detect, and Address Sexual Abuse | U.S. GAO
On May 6, the GAO “WatchBlog” posted“The Heinous Crimes Haunting Federal Prisons—Rape and Sexual Abuse,“ which highlighted the newly released report and underscored flaws in PREA oversight, including audits that do not detect abuse, restrictive audit contracts, and limited auditor access to records. The post also emphasized broader concerns with the PREA standards themselves, noting that they have not kept pace with advances in technology or correctional practices and calling for a Justice Department review to strengthen prevention, detection, and response to sexual abuse.
January 26, 2026
The Brennan Center for Justice published an “Expert Brief” examining how federal funding cuts are impacting efforts to eliminate sexual abuse in prisons. They note that the termination of DOJ grants under PREA endanger both incarcerated people and corrections staff.
Read the story here: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/federal-funding-cuts-target-efforts-reduce-sexual-abuse-prisons
December 4, 2025
On December 3rd, 2025, the Department of Justice issued guidance to DOJ-Certified PREA Auditors that all PREA auditors are instructed to immediately pause from making compliance determinations for specified subpargraphs of the Standards that were deemed to conflict with President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
Listen to and read the story on NPR here: DOJ orders prison inspectors to stop considering LGBTQ safety standards
Our interpretation of the current action is that the protection set forth the the regulations establishing the PREA Standards remain unchanged. While these elements of the Standards are no longer being audited, unless and until the DOJ amends the regulations, they are still the law.
The NPCA is steadfast in our belief that through the PREA Standards and a culture that will not tolerate any form of sexual victimization in our confinement facilities, it is imperative that we continue to protect those in confinement who are most vulnerable. Thus, whether a system adopts a binary sex approach or one that recognizes a spectrum of gender, we cannot forsake our primary responsibility to keep the most vulnerable individuals in our care safe from those who present a threat of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The full NAPC response to NPR’s request for comments is available here.
The memorandum to PREA Auditors is available below.