In a setting where LGBTQ+ people already face disproportionately high rates of sexual violence, the Department of Justice has defunded a key resource combating prison rape through the congressionally mandated Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).

PREA was passed unanimously by Congress in 2003 and sought to document and curtail the incidence and effects of prison rape in federal, state, and local institutions.

Part of the legislation’s mandate was the creation of the National PREA Resource Center, which provides federally funded training and technical assistance to states and localities and serves as a “single-stop resource for research and tools for all those in the field working to come into compliance with the federal standards,” according to the center’s website.

Funding for the collection and dissemination of that data ended this week.

“Prosecuting criminals, getting illegal drugs off of the streets, and protecting American institutions from toxic DEI and sanctuary city policies” are the Trump administration’s priorities, a Department of Justice spokesperson told The Appeal, which obtained a letter ordering the resource center’s closure.

“Discretionary funds that are no longer aligned with the administration’s priorities are subject to review and reallocation,” the spokesperson added.

Sexual minorities — or those who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, or who report a same-sex sexual experience before arrival at a carceral facility — are disproportionately incarcerated, according to the National Institutes of Health, which itself is facing devastating cuts by the Trump administration.  

The incarceration rate of sexual minorities was 1,882 per 100,000 in the survey period, more than three times that of the U.S. adult population. Compared with straight inmates, sexual minorities were more likely to have been sexually victimized while incarcerated, to have experienced solitary confinement and other sanctions, and to report current psychological distress.

Terry Schuster, the head of New Jersey’s prison oversight agency, called defunding the National PREA Resource Center a “reckless move.”

“The National PREA Resource Center is a library of every everything that’s ever been written about how to prevent and address sexual violence in custodial settings, and it’s staffed with experts who can answer one-off questions from people who are running jails and prisons and juvenile facilities and police departments,” he said. “Defunding them is like burning that library to the ground.”

Just Detention International, a nonprofit focused on ending sexual assault in prisons, said the cuts were “devastating” and would make carceral facilities more dangerous.

“The shuttering of the National PREA Resource Center is, quite simply, catastrophic for incarcerated people,” said Linda McFarlane, Just Detention’s executive director. “Its programs were a gamechanger for corrections agencies, while also helping to shed light on the conditions inside prisons and jails across the country.”

“Without the PREA Resource Center, corrections agencies will be left on their own when it comes to best practices to stop sexual abuse — and the public will be left in the dark about what goes on inside detention facilities,” McFarlane added.