ACA Winter Conference Preview

The ACA winter conference, one of the year’s largest events for correctional industry professionals, arrives in Tampa, Fla., in January. Be sure to visit Correctional News #233 booth and check out the following event highlights selected by the magazine’s editorial team.
 
Keynote Address
Three-time presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan opens the first general session with a keynote address on Monday morning. A political commentator and syndicated columnist, Buchanan played a prominent role as a political strategist and speechwriter during the Nixon administration, and later served as director of communications in the Reagan White House.
 
Industry Spotlight: Water & Waste
Acorn Engineering deployed the company’s vacuum plumbing and waste management system at the $122 million Western Virginia Regional Jail in Salem, Va., as part of a comprehensive effort to attain LEED certification for the 264,000-square-foot facility, which was completed in 2009.
 
Housing units at the 605-bed facility incorporate the AcornVac system, which includes 0.5 gallons-per-flush water-efficient vacuum toilets projected to deliver potable water savings of 68 percent — four million gallons of water per year — compared to conventional 1.6 gallons-per-flush toilets, according to the company.
 
Founded in 1954 and located in City of Industry, Calif., Acorn Engineering provides a comprehensive range of water and waste-management systems, master controls and plumbing products designed to reduce water usage, energy consumption and operational costs. The company, which holds 75 patents, manufactures all fixtures using 80 percent recycled stainless steel. Visit Acorn’s booth at both numbers 501, 503 and 505.
 
Seminars and Workshops
 
They Told us we Should do it Because it’s “Evidence-Based.” What does that Mean?; Session B-1C, January 24, 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.: Correctional administrators are asked to decide whether or not to implement new programs on a daily basis.
 
Advocates frequently tout evidence-based justifications for programs addressing issues from re-entry to safety and security to healthcare. However, many people on either side of the discussion and decision fail to really understand what evidence-based means. This workshop will make this complex subject clear and usable for decision-makers, giving them some tools to help them ask the right questions in order to better understand whether a specific program is as attractive as advertised.
 
Coordinator: Marc Stern, Correctional Healthcare Consultant, University of Washington, School of Public Health, Tumwater, Wash.
 
Designing Program-Intensive Special-Needs Prisons from the Ground up; Session B-1E, January 24, 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.: This workshop discusses the planning and unique program-intensive concepts deployed at the new 720-bed Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington, Wyo. The medium security facility specifically designed to serve as the primary intake and assessment center for male inmates not sentenced to death. It will serve as a primary education and treatment center for inmates identified as requiring high levels of protective custody, medical, mental health, dental, substance abuse, life skills, cognitive/behavioral, and/or sex offender treatment services.
 
Wyoming Department of Corrections representatives and the project architect will discuss the partnership between special-needs programs and specially designed spaces, and the concrete benefits of progressive work, education and treatment programs in reducing recidivism.
 
Coordinator: Dave Boehm, principal at DLR Group, Phoenix. 
 
Cell Phone Detection Strategies; Session D-2F: January 26, 2:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.: This session will demonstrate effective cell phone detection techniques and practices including, cell phone sniffing dogs, disruption technology and the systematic revision and implementation of security measures and entrance procedures, including the use of BOSS chairs, to stem the flow of such devices. Panelists will also discuss the status of efforts to introduce legislation to change the possession of cell phones in correctional facilities from a misdemeanor to a felony offense.
 
Coordinator: Tomi Heirs, chief of staff at the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Baltimore.
 
The Sustainable Facility: Practical Applications of Sustainable Principles to New Detention and Correctional Facilities; Session E-1A, January 25, 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.: This presentation will focus on the practical aspects of sustainability including definitions of LEED accreditation for professional, LEED certification of facilities, LEED rating systems. Panelists will use examples from recently completed facilities to discuss sustainable principals, strategies and measures as they apply to site selection, energy conservation, indoor air quality, recycling, materials selection and construction in corrections.  
 
Coordinator: Laurence Hartman, vice president, HDR Architecture Inc., Chicago.