Frankfort, Ky. (July 25, 2008) – Blackburn Correctional Complex (BCC) and Frankfort Career and Development Center (FCDC) received perfect scores during their re-accreditation process this week with the American Correctional Association (ACA). Both prisons received a score of 100% on non-mandatory and mandatory standards.
     Audit team chairperson Marv Wilson said when he evaluates a prison he looks at it from two perspectives: “One, if I was an inmate, I look at it and think, ‘would I feel safe and secure here?’ Second, from the perspective of a staff member: ‘would I want to work here?’ In both cases, at both of these prisons, I’d love to do my time here if I was an inmate, and if I was a staff member, I’d love to work here.”
     The prisons will receive their re-accreditation awards during ACA’s winter conference in Orlando. Both prisons received perfect scores in their last ACA audit as well.
     “I couldn’t be more proud of our staff for this accomplishment,” said Kentucky Department of Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson. “A perfect score on non-mandatory standards is extremely rare. It is even more rare for it be done in consecutive audits – something both prisons can now tout. It demonstrates the tremendous effort put forth by the men and women who work at the facilities, because these audits occurred at a time of management change and transition, and shows both the quality of their performance and the commitment they demonstrate day in and day out.”
     ACA consists of over 500 national standards that cover security, operational and programming aspects of a prison and require constant monitoring and quality control checks. Each prison is audited by ACA every three years and has an inter-departmental audit (Program Security Review) every year.  Kentucky has been a member of ACA since the early 1980s.