Prison and Jail accreditations are a big thing that I think that every jail and prison should strive to achieve. I did not know a lot of stuff about accreditations. I found out that the Peoria County Jail is an accredited jail which is good to hear. I also learned that the American Correctional Association has been around since 1954. That seems like a long time ago, but if you think about it, it is not that long ago. I want to know what was happening to lead up to the coming about of this association. I think that it is great that we have this. The American Correctional Association publishes 22 different manuals for all of the different avenues and fields that are within the overall picture of corrections. That is a lot of manuals that should probably be read by every jail and prison in the United States of America. It is great to hear that 1,300 facilities and agencies use the American Correctional Associations standards at their place of business. I am surprised though because this seems relatively low if you think about all of the jails, prisons, and other correctional institutions that there are in America much less the world and that only 1,300 institutions are using them. Tens of thousands of people are affected by these standards. These are the corrections officers and the inmates. I also found that some standards are not held to some instructions while others are mandatory for every intuition. It makes kind of sense but not really because there should be all of the standards should apply to everyone not just some of them. I also learned that you needed to maintain 90% to continue to be accredited. I think that this is a good standard to have when dealing with peoples lives. -Legion001
First off, I didn’t even know jail and prison accreditation was a thing. The American Correctional Association has been in existence since 1954, which is actually pretty interesting. It makes you think about how are jails and prisons were run before 1954, which I would say poorly. I think that this association is vital to our corrections system, keeping our jails and prisons in good working order. It will push these facilities to run efficiently and up to par. They also have an accreditation system that puts specific jails and prisons under the “accredited” label. One thing I learned in class is that the Peoria County Jail is an accredited facility which is an outstanding achievement. It not only means that the Peoria county jail is one of the best, but it also has a positive outlook on the community. One thing that I did notice on this website is that it does not list the Peoria County Jail as an accredited facility. Maybe the jail was just recently accredited; being the website has not updated itself yet. One other thing I found interesting is that the American Correction Association also oversees correctional programs that impact the facilities. Some examples of these programs are correctional industries, food service, electronic monitoring, therapeutic communities, and central office administration. This is interesting because someone might think that there are different organizations that oversee these programs in prison. For a facility to be deemed as accredited, it needs to reach all of the mandatory requirements and 90% of the non-mandatory requirements. To know this, you have to give credit to all of the accredited facilities in America, because this is a lot of work. If a facility did not want to reach any of the non-mandatory requirements, they do not have to so for one to reach 90% of these requirements in incredible. -lilbaby001
The American Corrections Association has been around since 1954. I could only imagine that prisons and jails were run much differently than they are now. The laws were much different then and overtime they have changed so much. The first attempt to create standards for prisons was in a conference in Cincinnati, Ohio back in 1870. Standards begun to develop during the 1940's and 1950's but no method of compliance was available at the time. ACA accreditation was intended to improve facility operations through standards relevant to all areas/operations. According to the ACA website the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections has been around since 1974. This commission consists of corrections professionals from each area of the field. More than 1,300 facilities in the U.S. and the world have been accredited thanks to the Commission. There are many benefits towards receiving accreditation. Some of these benefits include assessment of program strengths and weaknesses, improved staff morale and professionalism, and provide a safer environment for both staff and inmates. Accredited facilities will find it easier to recruit and retain new health care professionals. It improves the training and development of the staff. Accreditation requires written policy and procedures to establish and training and development program. There are 22 different manuals of standards. I took a look on some testimonials made by people who's facilities are accredited. All of them talk about how accreditation has helped the quality of their facilities and raise their standards. When I had first heard about accreditation within corrections I didn't know what it meant. There are a lot of requirements for a facility to become accredited. And they must maintain these requirements to keep their accredited status. -Ram001
I had heard of the ACA before but I did not know that it has been around since 1954. The importance of being accredited is a huge thing because of how beneficial is to the given institution and it can save you from potential lawsuits if you are following their operating standards. Seeing that there are 22 different operating manuals for many different section of a correctional facility just shows how in depth you need to be in order to implement their standards to your facility. Before the ACA was present the jails and prisons across our nation had no standards to live up too but now there are over 1300 accredited facilities in America and that is quite a few considering how hard it is to become accredited because you have to meet up to 90% or higher for all their standards. Something else that I found very interesting was that the ACA was originally known as the National Prison Association in 1870. The importance that they used to focus on was the medical aspect of the prisoners treatments in medical services with the practitioners. One of the facts that I liked the most was that ACA is not just focused on prisoner treatment or facility upkeep, but that the safety and security of the officers in the facility are looked after as well. The officers are the backbone of what holds a correctional facility together and to see that they are also involved in the accreditation aspect of the functionality of the system is amazing because they put their lives on the line every day when inside with the inmates. An accredited facility also has much lower insurance rates for obvious reasons but they also keep a high sense of professionalism which is one of the most important things to any correctional officer is staying professional even when you are being pushed to your limits. -Blues001
Until taking this class, the ACA did not mean much more to me than any other acronym. Accreditation is greatly beneficial to any institution. By simply following their standards, an institution can completely avoid any kind of lawsuits against them. This article shed light on a multitude of facts that I was not aware of. Originally the National Prison Association, the ACA has been around since 1870. It was also the first association created solely for practitioners in the correctional field. During their first meeting, as an organization, they elected Rutherford B. Hayes as president of the Association. In that meeting as well though, is when The Declaration of Principles was made to be and it became the guideline followed by both American and European corrections professionals. It is very difficult to become an accredited facility, through the ACA, because of the fact that 90%, or more, of their standards have to be met. With over 1300 accredited facilities across our country, I'd say we are doing very well. Another great thing about this association is the fact that they not only focus greatly on prisoners, and their treatment, but also on those working in jails and prisons, and how they are treated. They recognize the importance of having a well rounded, well respected, and respectful staff. Inmates behave better, and are better off in general, in a well staffed facility. Professionalism is key, especially in a profession where you can very quickly, and easily, be pushed outside of your comfort zone. Along with good staff, generally comes lower insurance rates. Accredited employees are less likely to use unnecessary force with inmates than those who are not. Well respected staff are also less likely to experience attempts of retaliation from inmates, meaning less violence, less property damage, etcetera. In general, Accreditation is something all facilities should strive for, we should not stop improving until all of our correctional facilities are up to standard with the ACA. -psych001
This article was very interesting. This article went over a few of the requirements to be an accredited facility. I believe that having an accredited facility is very important. It ensures a safe working environment. There are many reasons to have an accreditation. The most important of course is to protect the health and safety of the staff an inmates. I believe the reason that this came to be is due to lawsuits. Having an accreditation makes it much harder for inmates to press charges against a correctional facility. I find it interesting that there are two categories for an accreditation. Mandatory and non-mandatory. Reading this, it makes me believe that the ACA is attempting to try and meet the different needs of different correctional facilities. A facility must meet at least 90% of non-mandatory requirements. I believe that is to meet the different types and locations of facilities. It is difficult to compare a facility in Texas, as to a facility in Maine. They all have different needs and requirements which is why you get to choose the 90% you complete. The ACA is an important aspect in corrections and many people to not take an accreditation lightly. It is interesting to see the different types of requirements. To see all the types of manuals and supplements is bewildering due to the fact there is so much information to read and go through in order to follow the ACA's accreditation guidelines. Another aspect that is very interesting is to see how many times the ACA standards committee meets. Most of the time it is twice a month. All of the information that must be updated every time they change a guideline is crazy. Jackrabbit001
The way jails run now versus how they ran in the past is drastically different. With the help of the ACA jails are now able to run at peak performance and life inside is much easier to handle. For a jail or prison to achieve accreditation is huge and everyone inside and outside will benefit. It is a big deal for a jail or prison to get the accreditation because legal operations will mush more smoothly. If a jail has a lawsuit filed against it because of mistreatment or other issues that inmate make the courts aware of and the jail is accredited then it may just be thrown out because the court knows that the jail is running correctly on the inside. Every jail or prison should pursue an accreditation because they can only benefit from it. The many guide lines and jail must follow to get to the point where they can be accredited is tough but once achieved the jail should maintain the way they are running to stay above the line.-Purdue001
I never really heard about the ACA (America Corrections Association) until taking this class. I think it's a great thing that someone or some group is monitoring these prisons and making sure that the proper guidelines are being followed. Accreditation is like that parent watching you, making sure you don't cut corners in your work, and that every step is followed. It's not even that they are focusing on how the prison is ran and that the prisoners are protected, rights wise. It's also including the workers help and making sure that even the staff is protected in there own way. There are all sorts of guidelines, but any jail that follows and keeps up with them all should have some sort of recognition. - Lobster001
Prison and Jail accreditations are a big thing that I think that every jail and prison should strive to achieve. I did not know a lot of stuff about accreditations. I found out that the Peoria County Jail is an accredited jail which is good to hear. I also learned that the American Correctional Association has been around since 1954. That seems like a long time ago, but if you think about it, it is not that long ago. I want to know what was happening to lead up to the coming about of this association. I think that it is great that we have this. The American Correctional Association publishes 22 different manuals for all of the different avenues and fields that are within the overall picture of corrections. That is a lot of manuals that should probably be read by every jail and prison in the United States of America. It is great to hear that 1,300 facilities and agencies use the American Correctional Associations standards at their place of business. I am surprised though because this seems relatively low if you think about all of the jails, prisons, and other correctional institutions that there are in America much less the world and that only 1,300 institutions are using them. Tens of thousands of people are affected by these standards. These are the corrections officers and the inmates. I also found that some standards are not held to some instructions while others are mandatory for every intuition. It makes kind of sense but not really because there should be all of the standards should apply to everyone not just some of them. I also learned that you needed to maintain 90% to continue to be accredited. I think that this is a good standard to have when dealing with peoples lives. -Legion001
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I didn’t even know jail and prison accreditation was a thing. The American Correctional Association has been in existence since 1954, which is actually pretty interesting. It makes you think about how are jails and prisons were run before 1954, which I would say poorly. I think that this association is vital to our corrections system, keeping our jails and prisons in good working order. It will push these facilities to run efficiently and up to par. They also have an accreditation system that puts specific jails and prisons under the “accredited” label. One thing I learned in class is that the Peoria County Jail is an accredited facility which is an outstanding achievement. It not only means that the Peoria county jail is one of the best, but it also has a positive outlook on the community. One thing that I did notice on this website is that it does not list the Peoria County Jail as an accredited facility. Maybe the jail was just recently accredited; being the website has not updated itself yet. One other thing I found interesting is that the American Correction Association also oversees correctional programs that impact the facilities. Some examples of these programs are correctional industries, food service, electronic monitoring, therapeutic communities, and central office administration. This is interesting because someone might think that there are different organizations that oversee these programs in prison. For a facility to be deemed as accredited, it needs to reach all of the mandatory requirements and 90% of the non-mandatory requirements. To know this, you have to give credit to all of the accredited facilities in America, because this is a lot of work. If a facility did not want to reach any of the non-mandatory requirements, they do not have to so for one to reach 90% of these requirements in incredible. -lilbaby001
ReplyDeleteThe American Corrections Association has been around since 1954. I could only imagine that prisons and jails were run much differently than they are now. The laws were much different then and overtime they have changed so much. The first attempt to create standards for prisons was in a conference in Cincinnati, Ohio back in 1870. Standards begun to develop during the 1940's and 1950's but no method of compliance was available at the time. ACA accreditation was intended to improve facility operations through standards relevant to all areas/operations. According to the ACA website the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections has been around since 1974. This commission consists of corrections professionals from each area of the field. More than 1,300 facilities in the U.S. and the world have been accredited thanks to the Commission. There are many benefits towards receiving accreditation. Some of these benefits include assessment of program strengths and weaknesses, improved staff morale and professionalism, and provide a safer environment for both staff and inmates. Accredited facilities will find it easier to recruit and retain new health care professionals. It improves the training and development of the staff. Accreditation requires written policy and procedures to establish and training and development program. There are 22 different manuals of standards. I took a look on some testimonials made by people who's facilities are accredited. All of them talk about how accreditation has helped the quality of their facilities and raise their standards. When I had first heard about accreditation within corrections I didn't know what it meant. There are a lot of requirements for a facility to become accredited. And they must maintain these requirements to keep their accredited status.
ReplyDelete-Ram001
I had heard of the ACA before but I did not know that it has been around since 1954. The importance of being accredited is a huge thing because of how beneficial is to the given institution and it can save you from potential lawsuits if you are following their operating standards. Seeing that there are 22 different operating manuals for many different section of a correctional facility just shows how in depth you need to be in order to implement their standards to your facility. Before the ACA was present the jails and prisons across our nation had no standards to live up too but now there are over 1300 accredited facilities in America and that is quite a few considering how hard it is to become accredited because you have to meet up to 90% or higher for all their standards. Something else that I found very interesting was that the ACA was originally known as the National Prison Association in 1870. The importance that they used to focus on was the medical aspect of the prisoners treatments in medical services with the practitioners. One of the facts that I liked the most was that ACA is not just focused on prisoner treatment or facility upkeep, but that the safety and security of the officers in the facility are looked after as well. The officers are the backbone of what holds a correctional facility together and to see that they are also involved in the accreditation aspect of the functionality of the system is amazing because they put their lives on the line every day when inside with the inmates. An accredited facility also has much lower insurance rates for obvious reasons but they also keep a high sense of professionalism which is one of the most important things to any correctional officer is staying professional even when you are being pushed to your limits. -Blues001
ReplyDeleteUntil taking this class, the ACA did not mean much more to me than any other acronym. Accreditation is greatly beneficial to any institution. By simply following their standards, an institution can completely avoid any kind of lawsuits against them. This article shed light on a multitude of facts that I was not aware of. Originally the National Prison Association, the ACA has been around since 1870. It was also the first association created solely for practitioners in the correctional field. During their first meeting, as an organization, they elected Rutherford B. Hayes as president of the Association. In that meeting as well though, is when The Declaration of Principles was made to be and it became the guideline followed by both American and European corrections professionals. It is very difficult to become an accredited facility, through the ACA, because of the fact that 90%, or more, of their standards have to be met. With over 1300 accredited facilities across our country, I'd say we are doing very well. Another great thing about this association is the fact that they not only focus greatly on prisoners, and their treatment, but also on those working in jails and prisons, and how they are treated. They recognize the importance of having a well rounded, well respected, and respectful staff. Inmates behave better, and are better off in general, in a well staffed facility. Professionalism is key, especially in a profession where you can very quickly, and easily, be pushed outside of your comfort zone. Along with good staff, generally comes lower insurance rates. Accredited employees are less likely to use unnecessary force with inmates than those who are not. Well respected staff are also less likely to experience attempts of retaliation from inmates, meaning less violence, less property damage, etcetera. In general, Accreditation is something all facilities should strive for, we should not stop improving until all of our correctional facilities are up to standard with the ACA. -psych001
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting. This article went over a few of the requirements to be an accredited facility. I believe that having an accredited facility is very important. It ensures a safe working environment. There are many reasons to have an accreditation. The most important of course is to protect the health and safety of the staff an inmates. I believe the reason that this came to be is due to lawsuits. Having an accreditation makes it much harder for inmates to press charges against a correctional facility. I find it interesting that there are two categories for an accreditation. Mandatory and non-mandatory. Reading this, it makes me believe that the ACA is attempting to try and meet the different needs of different correctional facilities. A facility must meet at least 90% of non-mandatory requirements. I believe that is to meet the different types and locations of facilities. It is difficult to compare a facility in Texas, as to a facility in Maine. They all have different needs and requirements which is why you get to choose the 90% you complete. The ACA is an important aspect in corrections and many people to not take an accreditation lightly. It is interesting to see the different types of requirements. To see all the types of manuals and supplements is bewildering due to the fact there is so much information to read and go through in order to follow the ACA's accreditation guidelines. Another aspect that is very interesting is to see how many times the ACA standards committee meets. Most of the time it is twice a month. All of the information that must be updated every time they change a guideline is crazy. Jackrabbit001
ReplyDeleteThe way jails run now versus how they ran in the past is drastically different. With the help of the ACA jails are now able to run at peak performance and life inside is much easier to handle. For a jail or prison to achieve accreditation is huge and everyone inside and outside will benefit. It is a big deal for a jail or prison to get the accreditation because legal operations will mush more smoothly. If a jail has a lawsuit filed against it because of mistreatment or other issues that inmate make the courts aware of and the jail is accredited then it may just be thrown out because the court knows that the jail is running correctly on the inside. Every jail or prison should pursue an accreditation because they can only benefit from it. The many guide lines and jail must follow to get to the point where they can be accredited is tough but once achieved the jail should maintain the way they are running to stay above the line.-Purdue001
ReplyDeleteI never really heard about the ACA (America Corrections Association) until taking this class. I think it's a great thing that someone or some group is monitoring these prisons and making sure that the proper guidelines are being followed. Accreditation is like that parent watching you, making sure you don't cut corners in your work, and that every step is followed. It's not even that they are focusing on how the prison is ran and that the prisoners are protected, rights wise. It's also including the workers help and making sure that even the staff is protected in there own way. There are all sorts of guidelines, but any jail that follows and keeps up with them all should have some sort of recognition. - Lobster001
ReplyDelete