Corrections_Today_Winter_2024-2025_Vol.86_No.4

STANDARDS & ACCREDITATION

Standards and Accreditation training

By David Haasenritter

W elcome to the third Stan dards and Accreditation section of Corrections Today. In the Summer 2024 edition, my article was “Providing great ser vice — Standards and Accreditation: Who we are and what we do”. For the Fall 2024 edition, my article was on Performance Monitoring Visits. I was surprised by the positive responses to the articles and I wanted to update you on some changes and the future of Standards and Accreditation train ing since the Summer article. This edition will focus on what we have implemented in training. Our training is thorough and adaptable The field of Corrections (Adult, Juvenile, Community Corrections, etc.) is continually evolving due to legislation, public policy, technol ogy, litigation, etc. Training is one of the key elements in operating a correctional facility/program and maintaining accreditation. As policy and procedures change, technology is incorporated into correctional operations, new staff enter the field or staff change jobs, or agencies/ facilities seek initial and reaccredi tation, training is key to success. We want to meet your needs and

Photo courtesy Bahamas Department of Correctional Services/ Corrections Corporal Deval Kirby

ACA conducting five-day International Correctional Core Standards and Accreditation training for staff from the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in August 2024.

have expanded and developed some great new training. Those who have attended our training sessions have praised how much our training has improved. The training receiving the most positive comments is the five-day accreditation training done at a facility. This training focuses on the accreditation process from pre-audit through the panel hearing and a specific standard manual (Adult Correctional Institutions, Adult Local Detention Facility, Juvenile Correctional Facility, Core Jail, and International Correctional Core Standards to name a few). The facility/agency selects at tendees though we request the participants be multidisciplinary. We have had training sessions where

a number of individual facilities combined. Training is performed in a classroom in the morning with practical exercises in the facility in the afternoon. Attendees are divided into three teams of ten, who are assigned an instructor to be their mentor dur ing the afternoon exercises. The exercises include a presentation by each team on their findings, which is scored with a winner selected each day, and overall winner for the week determined. As you can imagine it becomes quite competitive between the teams and sometimes between the mentors. Training is tailored to the facility or agency. At the end of the training the facility where the training is con ducted has a good idea of where they

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