Commissioner Has Ties to "Independent" Accreditation Agency

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee Corrections Commissioner Derrick D. Schofield has close ties to the accreditation agency he has called on to conduct an independent assessment of the problem plagued department he runs.
Schofield, according to the web page of the American Correctional Association, is a member of the association's Committee on Standards.
In addition the accreditations of the ACA have come under scrutiny both in state and federal litigation and by prisoner advocacy groups.
According to Alex Friedmann of Prison Legal News, the association, headquartered in Alexandria, Va. "is a private organization composed of current and former corrections officials that basically sells accreditations to prisons and jails."
Friedmann added that the ACA sets its own standards and has no oversight.
"It thus has an inherent conflict of interest," Friedmann continued, "as corrections officials are accredited or audited by their own peers."
"Any review of Tennessee's prison system can not be called independent by any definition," he concluded.
Records show the agency is incorporated as a non-profit. Tax returns filed by the ACA show annual expenditures of about $8.4 million, with the majority of the income generated by inspection fees.
Records show that Davidson Sheriff Daron Hall has served on the association's board of directors.
Schofield announced Thursday that he had called on the ACA to conduct an independent review. The action comes as the agency has come under increasing fire, much of it directed at Schofield and his administration of the agency.
Friedmann noted that attempts by corrections officials to use the ACA accreditation to rebuff legal challenges to prison conditions and treatment of inmates have largely been rejected by numerous courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.