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AJA Conference Preview

Cincinnati hosts the American Jail Association’s 30th Annual Training Conference and Jail Expo on May 15-19 at the Duke Energy Convention Center.
The conference will feature more than 40 workshops on administration and direct supervision, certified jail management, certified correctional training programs, medical and mental health, operations and programs, and legal issues. The jail expo will feature representatives from more than 250 companies.
The conference will also host a legislative and advocacy update for jail professionals to learn about the ongoing efforts and results of Executive Director Gwyn Smith-Ingley’s efforts on Capitol Hill to provide jails a voice on criminal justice reinvestment, offenders with mental illness and other issues important to the jail community.
Workshop highlights:
  
   May 15
   • Managing the X–Y Generations (2 p.m. to 4 p.m.)
   • Health Information Technology (2 p.m. to 4 p.m.)
  
   May 16
   • NIJ Update: Technology for Corrections (8 a.m. to 10 a.m. )
   • When Disaster Happens – Nashville’s 1,000 Year Flood (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
  
   May 17
   • Video Mental Health Assessments (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
   • NIC Co-sponsored – Transition from Jail to Community (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
  
   May 18
   • Health Law for Jails (8 a.m. to Noon)
   • Surviving a Budget Crisis (1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.)
  
Facility Tour

This year’s facility tour will be of the Hamilton County Justice Center, located on the northeastern edge of downtown Cincinnati. The center consists of two 10-story towers connected to the County Courthouse via an elevated walkway.

The facility serves as the Sheriff Department’s primary detention facility and provides support services for two smaller treatment facilities. The total system capacity was limited to 1,472 beds after the closing of the 822-bed Queensgate facility.
The justice center was completed in 1985 at a cost of approximately $50 million and was originally designed with 848 maximum-security single cells. In 1988, 168 cells were double-bunked to increase capacity to 1,016. Additional cells were double-bunked in 1993 to increase capacity to 1,422. A federal court order currently limits capacity to 1,240.
The facility provides centralized booking for almost 50 law enforcement agencies in Hamilton County and averages approximately 45,000 bookings a year. It houses both sentenced and pre-trial inmates, including adult males and females, juveniles tried as adults, and special population inmates.
The facility also includes medical housing, a mental health unit, inmate education classrooms, training facilities, the Sheriff’s administrative offices and two arraignment courtrooms.
Sign up for facility tours will be in the general registration area of the Duke Energy Convention Center beginning Saturday, May 14, at 1 p.m. Facility tours will be held on Monday and Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.