Retired Lt. Col. Peter Grande, chief of history for the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, received the highest honor in corrections from the American Correctional Association at the ACA’s 156th Congress of Correction July 31, 2026, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Grande received the E.R. Cass Correctional Achievement Award, which is awarded in recognition of outstanding professional service and dedication to the correctional community and the public and for exemplifying the highest personal commitment to the goals and principles of the association.
The American Correctional Association is an international organization that stands as a leading voice in professional corrections. Rooted in a commitment to public safety, human dignity and evidence-based practices, ACA promotes excellence in correctional management through accreditation, education, research and advocacy. It serves as a unifying force for correctional professionals across the nation and around the globe, fostering accountability, leadership and continuous improvement.
The E.R. Cass Award was established in 1962 in honor of a man who had dedicated more than 50 years of his life to corrections. Serving as general secretary of the correctional association for 40 consecutive years, Cass was a man who adhered to the goals and fostered growth of the association and to the profession as a whole.
“I am truly humbled and honored to receive the E.R. Cass Correctional Achievement Award. As I reflect on previous recipients of this award, the giants in the field of corrections, I am grateful to just follow in their footsteps,” Grande remarked during his acceptance speech.
Grande is a certified correctional executive with extensive corrections and detention experience. He holds a master’s degree in criminology and corrections from Sam Houston State University; has served as an enlisted 95C correctional specialist; was commander of the Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Mannheim (Germany) Army Correctional Facilities; audited both military and civilian prisons nationally and internationally; served on the ACA Delegate Assembly, Commission on Correctional Certification, Resolutions and Policy Development Advisory Committee and Military Corrections Committee; and he currently serves as a panel chair on the Commission on Accreditation and as a member of the Performance-Based Standards Committee.
The U.S. Army Military Police Corps has had three recipients of the E.R. Cass Award — retired Maj. Gen. Mark Inch in 2013, retired Lt. Col. David Haasenritter in 2016 and Grande this year. All three of these officers were from the 1982 commissioning year group. Grande said the officers never dreamed that most of their Army careers would be in corrections and that they all would have significant leadership roles in the Army Corrections System. All three have served at the USDB. Inch was the commander of the 705th Military Police Battalion and commandant of the USDB; Haasenritter was the commander of the local parolee unit and operations officer, Directorate of Custody; and Grande was chief of staff at the USDB. He retired from civilian service in December 2021 and has continued to serve since February 2022 as the USDB’s chief of history.
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