Maren Arbach is a senior program associate with the National PREA Resource Center. Prior, Maren worked for the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as the agency PREA coordinator and the safety officer for the North Dakota State Penitentiary. As PREA coordinator, she oversaw the efforts in adult and juvenile facilities to maintain compliance with the PREA standards, created content for the training of staff, contractors, volunteers, and residents on the requirements under PREA legislation, and worked as a resource for the county and regional jails and community confinement facilities on issues pertaining to PREA compliance. She was also responsible for coordinating the training for facility PREA investigators and provided opportunities for attendance at the training to staff at jails, community confinement facilities, and juvenile detention facilities throughout the state. She pioneered a training on transgender people for staff of the ND DOCR to include co-development of the training content. She had a key role in developing protocol pertaining to searches and bringing in a contract trainer to educate staff about specifics of transgender people.
Prior to appointment as PREA Coordinator, she worked as the PREA compliance manager for the maximum-security men’s prison and as a director of training for the adult facilities in Bismarck, ND. She has been involved with the PREA compliance efforts at the ND DOCR since the release of the standards and assisted in developing the policy, procedures, and assessments. In addition to her employment at the ND DOCR, Maren operated a private auditing and consulting business and has conducted approximately 20 audits.
Maren’s background spans many areas of the criminal justice system including direct resident care in a community confinement facility and juvenile group home, pre-sentence investigations, fingerprint identification, and training for law enforcement and court personnel. She has extensive experience in policy review and ensuring policy aligns with all applicable standards and case law.
Maren received certification as a PREA auditor for adult and juvenile facilities in November 2014. She holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.