Corrections_Today_May_June_2020_Vol.82_No.3

Award Winners

The Medal of Valor Award The Medal of Valor is a prestigious award presented to a person or persons in corrections who, during an 18-month period prior to each conference, performed an act of extraordinary bravery and exceptional valor while in the line of duty, involving imminent personal threat to their life, with knowledge of the risk, above and beyond the call of duty. This year’s recipient was Catherine Wilson, a correctional officer with the Department of Criminal Justice in Iowa Park, Texas. Wilson managed to hold herself against two violent, aggressive inmates within a month at her facility, including one who attacked her with a fan motor in a sock and another who she caught trying to flush contraband. Jimmy Smith, warden of the Allred Unit in Iowa Park, accepted the award on her behalf.

The Award of Merit The Award of Merit is given to an individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty while outside his or her professional duties. This year, the award went to Edward Matthews of Jar- rett, Virginia. Matthews is an agribusiness truck driver with the Virginia Department of Correc- tions. He had just completed a delivery to a prison in North Carolina when he witnessed a car driving off the road and into a tree. Matthews called 911 and went to assist the passengers of the vehicle. Matthews was able to get four people out, includ- ing an unconscious child, and managed to save the fifth passenger before the car caught fire. This quick thinking ensured everyone’s survival and demonstrated the behavior ACA loves to see from its correctional employees.

Enrollment for the 2021 ACA Awards are underway

Don’t miss your chance to nominate someone who has shown bravery and has made significant strides to improve the corrections field. Award nomination

forms begin on page 114. 2021 award nomination forms can also be found online at: www.aca.org

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Although we tried to include all awards presented at ACA’s 2020 Winter Conference, we apologize for any awards or individuals that may have been missed due to deadlines.

— Skylar Mitchell

80 — May/June 2020 Corrections Today