Green River Correctional Complex (GRCC) in Central City received a 99.6 percent on its recent accreditation audit with the American Correctional Association (ACA). This is the institution’s eighth audit, beginning with their first accreditation in 1997.
GRCC is both a medium and minimum security facility that houses approximately 980 male inmates. The prison was constructed in 1994 and also maintains a maximum-security segregation unit.
Commissioner James Erwin lauded the GRCC employees. “The auditors made it clear that they were very impressed with the operations of the facility and I would like to thank the staff for all the time, effort and diligence they put forth to achieve such a high score.”
In announcing the scores the audit chairperson, Robert Murphy, noted how rare it is for a facility to score above 90 percent on the non-mandatory standards. “To get a 99 percent is really quite an accomplishment,” Murphy said. “The institution supports ACA and your practices represent the language that’s in the standard, which is considered not only to be industry standards, but quite often best practices. That was clearly in evidence as we did our audit inspection the last couple of days.”
Murphy, a retired Massachusetts Department of Corrections superintendent, conducted the audit along with Pearl Wilkins from Florida and Brian Neagle from New York. The auditors acknowledged the hard work of the staff and expressed their appreciation for their support of the accreditation process.
“GRCC staff demonstrate every day a dedication to the compliance process and the quality of life for the inmate population,” said GRCC Warden DeEdra Hart. “I commend them on their high score and I am very proud to be a part of such a great team of corrections professionals.”
ACA accreditation consists of approximately 525 standards that cover security, operational and programming aspects of the prison. Each of Kentucky’s prisons are audited by ACA every three years and have a program security review every year. Kentucky has been a member of ACA since the early 1980s.