Department of Corrections
Kentucky prisons score 100 on audits

Frankfort, KY – Blackburn Correctional Complex (BCC) and Frankfort Career Development Center (FCDC) received excellent scores during their re-accreditation process with the American Correctional Association (ACA).

Both BCC and FCDC scored 100 percent on mandatory and non-mandatory standards.  “Scores this high are not an easy accomplishment and it’s obvious that the staff has a clear understanding of human behavior,” said Diane Lee, Chairperson for the ACA audit team. 

The areas in both prisons that were consistently praised were sanitation, program opportunities for the inmate population and professionalism of the staff.

“I am very pleased and gratified with the results of the audit,” said Kentucky Department of Corrections Commissioner John D. Rees. “A score of 100 percent on applicable non-mandatory standards is extremely rare. We are obviously quite proud of this result. It demonstrates the effort by staff, and shows both the quality of their performance and the commitment to professional correctional service that 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.

“Kentucky’s commitment to the accreditation process and ACA is unyielding,” said Rees. “I am delighted that all our institutions are accredited or on the pathway to becoming accredited.”

The only two Kentucky prisons not yet accredited are the two newest, in terms of housing of state inmates: the Little Sandy Correctional Complex, a brand new medium-security male prison in Sandy Hook, and the Otter Creek Correctional Complex, a private prison in Wheelwright that just began housing female Kentucky inmates last week.

“I hope that in the next 18 months, our Division of Probation & Parole will achieve this same level of professional certification,” said Rees.