We Did It

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:07 am

As some of you know, I'm a Lt. at a prison in the state of Texas.

We've been working towards getting our American Correctional Association accreditation (a pretty big deal to us). The past few months has been a major surge to get the staff and facility ready for the accreditation and of course that means my workload has gone through the roof. Especially these past few weeks.

Well, this week the auditors flew in from various states and have been going through all of our stuff, touring the unit, talking to staff and inspecting various details on what we do on a day to day basis.

Today was the final day and the Out Briefing and.....we're accredited and we kicked it in the ASS! Scoring the highest we could based on our unit's age and physical design.

My officers did one hell of a job for me leading up to this and I am sooooo glad it is over with. I've grown 1/2 inch in the past 3 months just from the callouses on my feet.

Looking forward to celebrating this weekend that we're done (for the next 3 years any ways). I'm far too tired to do much else right now and I still got one more day of work this week.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:28 am

What does it mean to be accredited? I understand it from an educational point-of-view but have pretty much no concept of why a prison would seek it... does it infer more money disposed to your needs?
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:43 am

The accreditation is proof that we are performing all of our duties at a high level. That we aren't just saying we're doing everything that we are charged with doing, it shows that we are actually "walking the walk" I suppose and the audits are conducted by an outside agency.

The Big Picture of it all is one of the benefits is that numerous lawsuits brought against the agency will be dismissed outright as frivolous as we routinely prove that our sanitation levels, safety levels, security levels, etc are conducted at a high level of competence. This in turn saves the agency (and therefor the taxpayers) money as we are not having to spend time and money on many lawsuits that have no basis and are filed only in the hopes of getting an easy check.

Every unit run by TDCJ in the state of Texas is now accredited (our unit was the last, and the biggest).

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:52 am

Well then, hells yeah a big ol steamin' pile of congrats in served! Now, you can get back to the real duties of Texas prisons -- capital punishment.

But, really, that is good.
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:59 am

Congratulations! Kicking back and having a bunch of brews is definitely deserved!
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Post by **Breakdaddy** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:05 am

Awesome, great work chief!

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:06 am

Thanks.

Oh, and here's a wikimapia of My Unit.

Allthough I'm not too thrilled about being able to find this on-line.

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:12 am

Hey cool, can even see the neighborhood for the staff in THIS ONE.

It's the area above the places tagged Pool, Clubhouse and Cartwright's Court.

RLW · Post by **RLW** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:16 am

Congratulations and thank you for your service!

Lord Dynel · Post by **Lord Dynel** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:23 am

Congratulations, good sir! it's a wonderful feeling when hard work finally pays off.
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Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:41 am

DangerDwarf wrote:
Hey cool, can even see the neighborhood for the staff in THIS ONE.

It's the area above the places tagged Pool, Clubhouse and Cartwright's Court.

If you zoom in on it you can see some guy pissing off his back deck while holding a beer. You know him DD?
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:05 am

I''m just glad they updated the sattelite images. One before that had me streaking Warden's Row.

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:58 am

The Streak

Relaxo · Post by **Relaxo** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:38 pm

Congrats, DD!

James M. Ward · Post by **James M. Ward** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:58 pm

Good job DD.

I appreciate your work because who knows someday we might be seeing each other across the bars.

Jim Ward

Post by **Breakdaddy** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:13 pm

DangerDwarf wrote:
Thanks.

Oh, and here's a wikimapia of My Unit.

Allthough I'm not too thrilled about being able to find this on-line.

DUDE! Please don't show us "your unit"! The last time I showed anyone my unit I was issued a cease and desist order.

CharlieRock · Post by **CharlieRock** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:23 pm

DangerDwarf wrote:
The accreditation is proof that we are performing all of our duties at a high level. That we aren't just saying we're doing everything that we are charged with doing, it shows that we are actually "walking the walk" I suppose and the audits are conducted by an outside agency.

The Big Picture of it all is one of the benefits is that numerous lawsuits brought against the agency will be dismissed outright as frivolous as we routinely prove that our sanitation levels, safety levels, security levels, etc are conducted at a high level of competence. This in turn saves the agency (and therefor the taxpayers) money as we are not having to spend time and money on many lawsuits that have no basis and are filed only in the hopes of getting an easy check.

Every unit run by TDCJ in the state of Texas is now accredited (our unit was the last, and the biggest).

I would have thought the company would keep at least a lawyer or two on retainer (mine does). This should add no additional cost with each successive lawsuit. Since the lawyers are already "pre-paid". And your line of work is very similar to my own.
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Frost · Post by **Frost** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:27 pm

Well done, Dwarf.
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 3:07 am

Breakdaddy wrote:
DUDE! Please don't show us "your unit"! The last time I showed anyone my unit I was issued a cease and desist order.

I can't help it that the chicks don't dig ya. Next time don't stick it out there as a pick up line man.

N00b

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 3:10 am

CharlieRock wrote:
I would have thought the company would keep at least a lawyer or two on retainer (mine does). This should add no additional cost with each successive lawsuit. Since the lawyers are already "pre-paid". And your line of work is very similar to my own.

Yeah, they've got a whole deparmtent of lawyers down in Huntsville. But paying them to do stuff that is worthless is a waste of time and money. The accreditation cuts back on that and gives us more credibility when we actually do have to go to court, lowering the amount of suits and lowering the amount of suits that are successful.

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 3:12 am

James M. Ward wrote:
Good job DD.

I appreciate your work because who knows someday we might be seeing each other across the bars.

Jim Ward

I'd let ya eat twice on fried chicken day Jim.

Post by **Breakdaddy** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:06 pm

DangerDwarf wrote:
I can't help it that the chicks don't dig ya. Next time don't stick it out there as a pick up line man.

N00b

Dragondaddy · Post by **Dragondaddy** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:05 pm

How could that be Jim... He just forked over a handy escape route map, even showing the water routes where you can avoid recapture by them Texas hounds ahd heliocopters as you make The Great Escape!

Better download this now while u have the chance!
Note to Lt: Must block the Trolls Website from prisoner IE explorer webpage browsers

CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:08 pm

Congrats DD. Dealing with any kind of audit or accreditation is always a pain. It's certainly an accomplishment to do as well as your team did!

And as far as stuff being online - assume any kind of publicly-available information will eventually find it's way online, and will be virtually impossible to remove once it's there. But that's a conversation for another thread.
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