Utah Admin. Code R251-714-3 - Policies and Procedures

(1) The Department will require education and training regarding offender sexual assaults including:

(a) providing to offenders, at intake and periodically, Department-approved, easy-to-understand information developed by the Department on sexual assault prevention, treatment, reporting, and counseling in consultation with community groups with expertise in sexual assault prevention, treatment, reporting, and counseling; and

(b) providing sexual-assault-specific training to Department mental health professionals and employees who have direct contact with offenders regarding treatment and methods of prevention and investigation.

(2) The Department will require reporting of offender sexual assault, including:

(a) ensuring the confidentiality of offender sexual assault complaints and the protection of offenders who make complaints of sexual assault; and

(b) prohibiting retaliation and disincentives for reporting sexual assault.

(3) The Department will require safety and care for victims of offender sexual assaults, including:

(a) providing, in situations in which there is reason to believe that a sexual assault has occurred, reasonable and appropriate measures to ensure the victim's safety by separating the victim from the assailant, if known;

(b) providing acute trauma care for sexual assault victims, including treatment of injuries, HIV prophylaxis measures, and testing for sexually transmitted infections;

(c) providing confidential mental health counseling for victims of sexual assault, including access to outside community groups or victim advocates that have expertise in sexual assault counseling, and enabling confidential communication between offenders and those organizations and advocates; and

(d) monitoring victims of sexual assault for suicidal impulses, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other mental health consequences resulting from the sexual assault.

(4) The Department will require investigations and, where appropriate, staff discipline for sexual assaults that occur in Department correctional facilities, including:

(a) requiring employees to report any knowledge, suspicion, or information regarding an incident of sexual assault in a correctional facility to the Executive Director or designee, and require disciplinary action for employees who fail to report as required;

(b) requiring investigations described in Section R251-714-4;

(c) requiring corrections investigators to submit completed sexual assault allegations to the Executive Director or designee, who must then submit any substantiated findings that may constitute a crime under state law to the district or county attorney with jurisdiction over the facility in which the alleged sexual assault occurred; and

(d) requiring employees to be subject to disciplinary sanctions up to and including termination for violating agency sexual assault policies, with termination as the presumptive disciplinary sanction for employees who have engaged in sexual assault, consistent with constitutional due process protections and state personnel laws and rules.

(5) The Department will require data collection and reporting as provided in Subsection R251-714-4(3).

Notes

Utah Admin. Code R251-714-3

Adopted by Utah State Bulletin Number 2022-15, effective 7/18/2022