Correctional Facility receives superior grade from ACA

By Sgt. Maj. Tabrina N. Adams, USARCF-K Sergeant MajorMarch 20, 2014

Correctional Facility receives superior grade from ACA
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Members of the American Correctional Association receive a tour of the United States Regional Correctional Facility-Korea, located at Camp Humphreys. The ACA conducts inspections of correctional facilities to ensure they are in compliance with the or... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
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CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea -- The United States Regional Correctional Facility-Korea received a superior audit score, of 98.6 percent, following an inspection by the American Correctional Association, here, Feb. 23-25.

The ACA conducts these inspections to ensure that correctional facilities are in compliance with the organizations small jail standards.

These standards are the national benchmark for the effective operation of correctional systems throughout the United States and are necessary to ensure that correctional facilities are operated professionally. They address services, programs and operations essential to good correctional management, including administrative and fiscal controls, staff training and development, physical plant, safety and emergency procedures, sanitation, food service, rules and discipline. The standards reflect practical, up-to-date policies and procedures that safeguard the life, health and safety of staff and offenders.

During the visit, auditors Penny Brookshire, from the Oklahoma Correctional Department, and Mitch Lucas, from the Charleston, S.C., Sherriff Department, reviewed 244 small jail standards, 18 of which were mandatory and had to be fail proof. If one of the 18 were not to standard, the entire accreditation would fail automatically.

The results of this 2014 reaccreditation was to ensure the facility was in compliance with what is normally three years of policy, procedure and practice data being tracked to this year?'s audit requiring four years of data, due to a scheduling conflict. The USARCF-K team was notified in September 2013 to add the additional year to all standard folders.

"I can say, as the Facility Commander, the Soldiers did not complain, they just went to work," said Capt. Robert B. Soncini. "They were led by the facility's ACA manager, Staff Sgt. Eric Polgar. I am proud of their efforts and pleased to see that hard work put into action does truly payoff. After a long, three-day process, the auditors determined the overall ACA compliance rate (of 98.6 percent)."

To put this accomplishment into perspective, according to Lucas, there are more than 3,300 jails in the United States and only 137 of them are in compliance with ACA standards and are accredited. That equates to less than one-half of one percent of the jails in the United States is ACA accredited.

"The USARCF-K team's NCOs and young Soldiers teamwork, commitment and dedication to achieve this goal, have much to be proud of knowing they were a part of something great in the field of corrections," Soncini said.

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