Oct 11, 2007 - 04:02:08 CDT
JENNY MICHAEL Bismarck Tribune
The North Dakota State Penitentiary has met all mandatory standards for accreditation from the American Correctional Association.
The facility also met all but five of 443 non-mandatory standards. All five areas of noncompliance involve problems in the parts of the prison built from 1910 to the 1960s.
Marv Wilson, an auditor with the ACA, said he and another auditor went through the prison and the minimum security Missouri River Correctional Center to research the prison's performance in 63 standards mandatory for accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections and 443 non-mandatory standards.
The auditors were at the prison for three days.
Wilson said the auditors were impressed with the penitentiary and the MRCC.
"Safety, security and sanitation at this facility are excellent," he said.
Wilson pointed out areas working well at the prison, including substance abuse treatment programs, healthcare, food and maintenance.
"We didn't find anything in this older facility that was broke down or didn't look like it was working," he said.
Wilson also said the prison staff was professional and knowledgeable.
Accreditation from the ACA lasts for three years. To be an accredited facility for three more years, Tim Schuetzle, the prison warden, and Darrell Theurer, director of training and accreditation, will have to appear before the CAC in the next few months to go over the auditor's report, Wilson said. He doesn't think the prison, which has been accredited since 1991, will have any problems getting accredited again.
Wilson said the five non-mandatory standards the prison did not reach all have to do with problems with the prison's physical plant.
n Several of the cell blocks do not have cells with enough empty space. To meet standards, cells need 35 square feet of empty space. Cells in buildings built from 1910 to the 1960s have 24 or less square feet of empty space, Wilson said.
n Cells in the administrative segregation unit also do not have 35 feet of unencumbered space, he said.
n The segregation unit is located in the middle of a building and thus does not have light entering the cells from the outside, Wilson said.
n Lights in some older buildings do not send out the required 20 foot-candles of light, but Wilson said prison staff is working to put desk lamps in cells to remedy that problem.
n One older cell block has too high of a decibel level at night, Wilson said. He said 45 decibels at nighttime is the limit, but one building ranges from 46 to 63 decibels at night due to fans that have to run constantly.
Schuetzle said the only way to fix most of the problems is to replace the prison's older buildings, which is being addressed by the Legislature's interim Correctional Facility Review Committee.
The committee, made up of state legislators, was formed by a bill from the 2007 session that called for further study of the state's prison situation. It came as a compromise after legislative leaders could not decide whether the state should spend $41 million on a planned remodel of the facility or upward of $80 million to build a new prison. Consultants from Connecticut's Criminal Justice Institute have been studying the prison situation.
Schuetzle is excited that the Legislature has plans to do something about the prison's older buildings. The warden anticipates that new buildings could mean the prison could be 100 percent in compliance with mandatory and non-mandatory standards the next time auditors come in.
"Three years from now, we'll have new buildings or at least our physical plant will be taken care of," he said.
Schuetzle and Theurer said department heads at the prison keep track of how they are meeting ACAstandards. Theurer compiles information about the standards on a daily basis.
"Each standard is really based on sound operating principles," Schuetzle said.
Theurer said the standards work to minimize risks. The ACA has tried to anticipate ways to reduce problems from occurring in prisons, such as riots and escapes, he said.
Schuetzle said doing things up to standard has become second nature for prison staff.
"I really think we are at a point with this facility that we're really living with these ACA standards," he said. "We're very proud, and I'm very proud of my staff."
(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)
Mathern is right wrote on Oct 16, 2007 9:40 PM:
here's a thought wrote on Oct 11, 2007 8:34 PM:
think about it Senator wrote on Oct 11, 2007 7:43 PM:
Senator Tim Mathern wrote on Oct 11, 2007 3:16 PM:
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