A press release from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office:

COUNTY JAIL AUDIT CONCLUDES WITH HIGH MARKS FOR FACILITY, STAFF AND OPERATIONS

A three-day audit of the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility by the American Correctional Association (ACA) concluded Thursday with the Audit Committee reporting that the jail had met 100% of the mandatory standards and 97.9% of the non-mandatory standards.

Sheriff Bill Prim said Thursday that the findings make for a very strong likelihood that the ACA Commission on Accreditation will renew the jail’s three-year accreditation when it formally votes in January.

“This was an outstanding conclusion to an outstanding effort, and I am very proud of our corrections staff,” he said.

The three-person Audit Committee, representing a total of almost 100 years of experience at the highest levels of corrections, spent 11 hours both Tuesday and Wednesday and another three Thursday touring the facility, talking to staff and inmates, reviewing stacks of files, and generating data for their eventual final report.

Paul Hastmann, retired after 40 years in corrections in state and local facilities in Maryland, was the Audit Committee chair and commended jail staff during his exit presentation, telling them: “Your facility is in pretty good shape, clean, and you obviously take pride in the facility. The staff are impressive, well-trained, highly motivated, cooperative and career-oriented. There is very much a team atmosphere.”

An ACA audit involves assessment of

• administration and management;
• the physical
• plant;
• institutional operations and services; and
• inmate programs.

Auditors also make detailed reviews of

• medical services;
• food services;
• sanitation;
• use of segregation and detention; incidents
• of violence; and
• crowding.

The benefits of ACA accreditation include

• reduced liability insurance costs;
• defense against lawsuits;
• a safer environment for staff and offenders; and
• improved staff morale and professionalism.

The jail spent six months preparing for the audit and compiling information that the committee would use to supplement their own on-site inspection.

Of the 59 ACA mandatory standards which were applied, the jail was adjudged to be in compliance with all of them, and likewise in compliance with 283 of 289 non-mandatory standards.

Hastmann concluded his remarks by recalling his warning at Tuesday’s opening session:

“You are going to feel audited when we get done. We’re not going to give you anything. We’re going to make you earn it the old-fashioned way. And you did. There were no ‘gimmes’.”

Also on the committee were Capt. Terry Wilshire, a 20-year veteran of the Knox County (Tn.) Sheriff’s Office, and Barbara Hladki, who spent 33 years with the Michigan Department of Corrections, 25 of which she served as coordinator of a U.S. Department of Justice consent decree.

The ACA is a private, non-profit, non-governmental trade association and accrediting body for the corrections industry, the oldest (founded in 1870) and largest such association in the world. Its Commission on Accreditation will review the final audit report and vote on reaccreditation at the 2017 ACA Winter Conference in San Antonio, Texas.