The McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility won an award during an August 2 awards ceremony in conjunction with the American Correctional Association (ACA), 140th Congress of Correction, held at Navy Pier, Chicago. The McHenry County facility joins an elite group of 3.9% of all Illinois County Correctional facilities to be accredited, including DuPage, Lake, and Will Counties.
The awarding of accreditation was the culmination of a long and arduous process that included a three day audit in June of this year by a panel of three certified ACA auditors from across the country.
The audit included examination of 384 performance based standards representing the correctional professions best practices of which 62 are mandatory. The McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility scored 100% compliance on all applicable mandatory standards and 94.2% on non-mandatory standards.
The accreditation process also included an extensive examination of the facility and daily operations, as well as staff and inmate interviews. At the conclusion of the audit, the visiting committee reported its findings to the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections who used the report in making a recommendation to accredit the facility.
The process of accreditation offers agencies the opportunity to evaluate their operations against national standards, to remedy deficiencies, and to upgrade the quality of correctional programming and operations. The recognized benefits from this process include improved management, a defense against lawsuits through documentation and the demonstration of a "good fait" effort to improve conditions of confinement and increased accountability. Accreditation is also a positive selling point when the county goes to the marketplace to obtain insurance quotes.
Achieving ACA accreditation is a direct credit to the professionalism and dedication of the entire staff at the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility.
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