Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) Detention
Staffing
Each detention facility must have sufficient personnel to
provide adequate 24-hour supervision of youth seven days a week. A staffing
plan or roster shall be maintained and reviewed daily by the superintendent or
designee.
1) A superintendent,
qualified by training and experience to supervise staff and youth, shall be
appointed for each detention facility.
2) An assistant superintendent, qualified by
training and experience to supervise staff and youth, shall be designated for a
detention facility of 25 or more rated capacity.
3) A shift supervisor must be scheduled and
available at all times and on duty during all waking hours and immediately
available if not on duty during sleeping hours.
4) Direct care staff (detention officers)
employed in sufficient numbers to ensure a ratio of 1:8 staff per youth during
waking hours and 1:16 during sleeping hours. Staffing levels must anticipate
the need for coverage for staff absence for leave and training.
5) Supervision shall be conducted by a person
of the same gender (transgender youth shall be allowed to choose the gender of
the staff). At least one male and one female staff member shall be on duty when
males and females are in custody.
6) No detention facility shall have fewer
than three persons on duty per shift. On the midnight shift, two persons may be
on duty and one on call. (See Section
2602.140(a)(1).)
7) An agency shall employ or designate an
upper-level, agency-wide PREA coordinator with sufficient time and authority to
develop, implement, and oversee agency efforts to comply with the PREA
standards in all of its facilities.
b) Staff Selection
A background screening shall be conducted which may include,
among other factors, a criminal history check, Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking
System, and Law Enforcement Agencies Data System. Staff selection criteria
shall be based on education, training, and experience that demonstrate capacity
to engage with youth and serve as a positive role model.
c) Background Checks
All personnel working in the detention center, including
contractual staff and volunteers, must complete a background check prior to
employment and at least once every five years throughout employment.
1) The background check shall include
criminal background investigation, a check of the child abuse registry, and an
inquiry of prior institutional employers for information on any substantiated
reports of abuse, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment.
2) Employment shall be denied or terminated
if criminal convictions for any offense other than a minor traffic or petty
offense, a finding of child abuse or neglect, inclusion on the sex offender
registry, a current order of protection, or active warrants pending criminal
charges. Exceptions to these exclusions may be recommended by the
superintendent and approved in writing by the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court.
Exceptions to these exclusions include, but is not limited to, when the
employee or potential employee will be participating in a specific program or
has a unique skill set that would be difficult to replicate.
3) The detention center policy shall require
staff to disclose any subsequent conviction and identify disciplinary
consequences for failure to do so.
d) Hiring and Promotion Decisions - PREA
1) The agency shall not hire or promote
anyone who may have contact with youth, and shall not enlist the services of
any contractor who may have contact with youth, who has:
A) engaged in sexual abuse in a prison, jail,
lockup, community confinement facility, juvenile facility or other institution
(as defined in
42
USC 1997);
B) been convicted of engaging or attempting
to engage in sexual activity in the community facilitated by force, overt or
implied threats of force, or coercion or if the victim did not consent or was
unable to consent or refuse; or
C)
been civilly or administratively adjudicated to have engaged in the activity
described in subsection (d)(1)(A).
2) The agency shall consider any incidents of
sexual harassment in determining whether to hire or promote anyone, or to
enlist the services of any contractor, who may have contact with
youth.
3) Before hiring new
employees who may have contact with youth, the agency shall:
A) Perform a criminal background records
check;
B) Consult any child abuse
registry maintained by the State or locality in which the employee would work;
and
C) Consistent with federal,
State, and local law, make its best efforts to contact all prior institutional
employers for information on substantiated allegations of sexual abuse or any
resignation during a pending investigation of an allegation of sexual
abuse.
4) The agency
shall also perform a criminal background records check, and consult applicable
child abuse registries, before enlisting the services of any contractor who may
have contact with youth.
5) The
agency shall either conduct criminal background records checks at least every
five years of current employees and contractors who may have contact with youth
or have in place a system for otherwise capturing information for current
employees.
6) The agency shall also
ask all applicants and employees who may have contact with youth directly about
previous misconduct described in subsection (d)(1) in written applications or
interviews for hiring or promotions and in any interviews or written
self-evaluations conducted as part of reviews of current employees. The agency
shall also impose upon employees a continuing affirmative duty to disclose any
misconduct.
7) Material omissions
regarding misconduct, or the provision of materially false information, shall
be grounds for termination.
8)
Unless prohibited by law, the agency shall provide information on substantiated
allegations of sexual abuse or sexual harassment involving a former employee
upon receiving a request from an institutional employer for whom the employee
has applied to work. (See Section 317 of PREA.)
e) PREA Training
1) The agency shall train all employees who
may have contact with youth on:
A) Its
zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse and sexual harassment;
B) How to fulfill their responsibilities
under agency sexual abuse and sexual harassment prevention, detection,
reporting and response policies and procedures;
C) Youths' right to be free from sexual abuse
and sexual harassment;
D) The right
of youth and employees to be free from retaliation for reporting sexual abuse
and sexual harassment;
E) The
dynamics of sexual abuse and sexual harassment in juvenile
facilities;
F) The common reactions
of juvenile victims of sexual abuse and sexual harassment;
G) How to detect and respond to signs of
threatened and actual sexual abuse and how to distinguish between consensual
sexual contact and sexual abuse between youth;
H) How to avoid inappropriate relationships
with youth;
I) How to communicate
effectively and professionally with youth, including lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, intersex, or gender nonconforming residents;
J) How to comply with relevant laws related
to mandatory reporting of sexual abuse to outside authorities; and
K) Relevant laws regarding the applicable age
of consent (See Section 331 of PREA.).
2) Training shall be tailored to the unique
needs and attributes of residents of juvenile facilities and to the gender of
the youth at the employee's facility. The employee shall receive additional
training if the employee is reassigned from a facility that houses only male
youth to a facility that houses only female youth, or vice versa.
3) The agency shall provide each employee
with refresher training every two years to ensure that all employees know the
agency's current sexual abuse and sexual harassment policies and procedures. In
years in which an employee does not receive refresher training, the agency
shall provide refresher information on current sexual abuse and sexual
harassment policies.
4) The agency
shall document, through employee signature or electronic verification, that
employees understand the training they have received. (See Section 331 of
PREA.)
f) Casework
Professional staff shall possess appropriate qualifications as
required by law. Social workers shall be qualified in accordance with the
Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act [225 ILCS 20].
g) Certificate, Licenses,
Registration
Duties that require possession of a current certificate,
license or registration as evidence of special competence to perform those
duties shall be licensed and certified by the Department of Financial and
Professional Regulation.
h)
Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures
Procedures regarding employee disciplinary matters and
grievances shall be established and made known to all employees.
i) Volunteer and Contractor
Training - PREA
1) The agency shall ensure
that all volunteers and contractors who have contact with youth have been
trained on their responsibilities under the agency's sexual abuse and sexual
harassment prevention, detection and response policies and
procedures.
2) The level and type
of training provided to volunteers and contractors shall be based on the
services they provide and level of contact they have with youth, but all
volunteers and contractors who have contact with youth shall be notified of the
agency's zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual abuse and sexual harassment and
informed how to report incidents.
3) The agency shall maintain documentation
confirming that volunteers and contractors understand the training they have
received. (See Section 332 of PREA.)