{"id":19771,"date":"2024-02-29T15:53:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T20:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=19771"},"modified":"2024-06-26T16:54:28","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T20:54:28","slug":"warren-markey-merkley-call-on-the-bureau-of-prisons-to-protect-inmates-end-prison-accreditation-contract-with-the-american-correctional-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/warren-markey-merkley-call-on-the-bureau-of-prisons-to-protect-inmates-end-prison-accreditation-contract-with-the-american-correctional-association\/","title":{"rendered":"Warren, Markey, Merkley Call on the Bureau of Prisons to Protect Inmates, End Prison Accreditation Contract with the American Correctional Association\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe urge the BOP not to renew its ACA accreditation contract when it expires next month.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ACA\u2019s accreditation system is ineffective at best, and at worst misleads the public to believe that a failing facility\u2019s operations are adequate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texto de la carta (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington DC<\/strong> \u2013 Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) sent a letter to Colette Peters, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and Attorney General Merrick Garland, expressing concerns with the Bureau of Prisons\u2019 (BOP) reliance on the American Correctional Association (ACA) for accreditation and re-accreditation services for BOP prisons, and urging the BOP to end its contract with the ACA when it expires next month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawmakers warned that the ACA\u2019s accreditation system is \u201clargely toothless and is marred by conflicts of interest,\u201d and the ACA has accredited prisons that have forced inmates to live in unsafe and violent conditions \u2014 such as a facility that \u201cserved spoiled, insect- and rodent-infested food and failed to repair broken toilets.\u201d The association accredits virtually every facility that pays the accreditation fee, and its audit processes are virtually impossible to fail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201c(W)hen an in-person audit is conducted, the ACA helps facilities prepare by giving them three months\u2019 notice before an audit, providing checklists and audit evaluation forms, and offering opportunities for \u2018mock audits,\u2019\u201d los legisladores escribieron<\/strong>. \u201cIn essence, the ACA \u2018provid(es) the answers to the test in advance.\u2019 Furthermore, facilities can be accredited even if they fail the audit, and being accredited by the ACA seems to have little correlation with actual facility conditions or practices.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

The letter also highlights the inherent conflicts of interest in the ACA\u2019s accreditation system. The ACA serves as the primary advocate and lobbying group for the prison industry, while also being given responsibility for overseeing conditions at prison facilities \u2014 a difficult conflict of interest to reconcile. \u201cThese competing roles make it impossible for the ACA to retain credibility as a third party charged with ensuring appropriate conditions in prisons and jails,\u201d the lawmakers argue<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The lawmakers also call attention to findings by the DOJ Inspector General (IG), which revealed that the ACA audits do not even involve independent reviews.  According to the IG, \u201c(i)nstead of conducting its own review of the BOP\u2019s facilities or documentation, the ACA would renew accreditations simply based on the BOP\u2019s self-assessment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to urging the non-renewal of the BOP-ACA contract, the lawmakers also request answers about current ACA contracts with the DOJ, the ACA accreditation process, and potential alternatives to the ACA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2020, Senator Warren released the findings<\/a> of a May 2019 investigation she opened into the ACA, confirming a long history of the ACA maintaining conflicts of interest and failing to provide meaningful oversight of the facilities it accredits, resulting in rubber-stamping of dangerous facilities and the wasting of millions of taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Warren has taken several steps to reform federal and private prisons and immigration detention centers, and to hold them accountable for mismanagement and corruption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n