The Sherburne County Jail has been recognized as one of the top correctional facilities in the country.

 

Tuesday, Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott presented the ACA Accreditation Certificate to the Sherburne County Commissioners and Administrator Steve Taylor for their continued support.

 

The ACA (American Correctional Association) is an organization made up of corrections/law enforcement and medical professionals who began accrediting agencies in 1898.

 

Brott said there are currently only 1,300 accredited facilities worldwide.

 

“Only 133 county jails have ever received accreditation, so it’s a pretty significant achievement,” he said.

 

The only other jail in Minnesota to receive accreditation was Hennepin County. 

 

Accreditation requires continuous in-depth evaluation of every aspect of a facility and its administration, which includes establishing goals, objectives and resources, continually evaluating and updating them and proactively correcting deficiencies before they can become a problem.

 

The ACA evaluates a facility based on 383 different standards. Of those, a facility must achieve 100% compliance on 60 standards and no less than 90% compliance on the remaining 323 standards.

 

The accreditation process in Sherburne County took over two years of work compiling the necessary documentation for all 383 standards. 

 

June 7-9 of this year, three ACA auditors (one from New York, one from Georgia and the final one from Washington) came to the jail and completed an audit to ensure compliance with the standards. They determined the facility was in compliance with all 60 mandatory standards. The jail scored 97% on the remaining 323 non-mandatory standards.

 

After the auditors recommended the county for accreditation, jail personnel were required to appear before the ACA board at their annual conference Aug. 19 in St. Louis for a final approval hearing. 

 

Several of the jail staff, which included ACA Manager Lisa Eckhart, Jail Commander Pat Carr, Jail Administrator Brian Frank and Jail Office Supervisor Heide Arbuckle, along with jail clinic staff, attended the ACA board hearing. While there, the jail received final approval for accreditation, making the Sherburne County Jail the highest scoring accredited jail in Minnesota. 

 

Brott said along with the county board and administrator, he would like to recognize Dr. Leonard, Michele Skroch, Diana VanDerBeek and staff from MEND (jail clinic); Gary Graham at Summit Foods, which worked diligently to prepare for the audit; Steve Becker in the maintenance department, ACA Manager Lisa Eckhart, who provided impeccable documentation and Jail Commander Pat Carr, who has led the jail since 1996.

 

“Everybody plays a role,” he told the commissioners. “It’s a huge team effort.”