Orange County Jail Earns National Reaccreditation

(Kissimmee, FL - Saturday, January 10, 2009) The Orange County Corrections Department has received reaccreditation from the American Correctional Association (ACA) after action by the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections today. Meeting in Kissimmee at ACA Winter Conference being held at the Gaylord Palms Resort, the commission voted unanimously to continue the department's Accreditation.

Just before the vote, members of the commission described Orange County Corrections as a complex but well-run jail system. Additionally they noted that they were very impressed by the high number of community service hours performed through the department.

To earn accreditation from ACA, a team of ACA auditors must conduct a complete on-site inspection and make a recommendation that accreditation be granted or renewed. This review was completed in November, with auditors recommending to the commission that the re-accreditation be granted. The auditors found that the Orange County Jail was in 100% compliance with the 60 required mandatory standards and had a remarkable 97.2 percent compliance with the more than 300 non-mandatory standards

One of the major benefits of accreditation is having a team of correctional professionals review all of a jail's operations to make sure that there is compliance with nationally accepted standards, policies, and procedures.

Accreditation is an on-going process and a new audit is required every three years. This is the second, consecutive, re-accreditation of the Orange County Corrections Department.