Administrative Review & Risk Management Division

Monitoring & Standards

The mission of the Monitoring and Standards Department is to monitor TDCJ facilities to ensure that operations are in accordance with agency policies and procedures, court orders, and nationally accepted standards established by the American Correctional Association.

A balance of internal and external oversight, the Monitoring and Standards Department is comprised of two complementary programs – Operational Review and ACA Accreditation.

American Correctional Association (ACA) Accreditation

A three-year cycle of external auditing, the American Correctional Association (ACA) provides an independent assessment of agency achievement of industry standards, and federally mandated accreditation of correctional health care.

Initial Accreditation – The process of conducting unit-level assessment, with a standards compliance audit by trained ACA consultants prior to an accreditation decision by the Board of Commissioners. Once accredited, all programs and facilities submit annual certification statements to ACA.
Re-Accreditation – The three-year period during which the agency maintains and improves upon its compliance levels that were achieved at the time of the initial accreditation award.
Unit ACA coordinators are generally responsible for ensuring construction and maintenance of the ACA folders documenting policies, procedures, and practices.
Regional Monitoring and Standards coordinators and Central Office Monitoring and Standards staff assist TDCJ units as they enter into the initial ACA accreditation process and during the continuing re-accreditation process. Technical guidance and support are provided to ensure compliance with agency policy, procedure and applicable ACA standards.
Central Office Review and Standards staff network with the national organization in scheduling and facilitating audits, and represents the agency at ACA Board of Commissioners hearings.
Current Status – There are currently 95 CID units (state map and listing; also a link to unit profiles) accredited by ACA, as well as the Baten Unit and the TDCJ Training Academy. Additionally, the remaining CID facility, Hospital Galveston, is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care.

Operational Review

The Operational Review Program provides agency managers with performance indicators of unit and departmental operational effectiveness.

Unit Level Operational Review – At state-operated correctional units, a sergeant of correctional officers conducts one review every six months in each functional area or department according to a unit level review schedule.

Division Level Operational Review – At both state and privately operated units, functional area proponents from either divisional or regional headquarter locations; conduct a review once every three years.

Division Level Follow Up Review – Follow-up reviews are conducted to ensure acceptable performance measures have been achieved.

Central Office Monitoring and Standards staff not only serve as a functional area proponent for several areas that are included in the monitoring process; but also provide training and technical assistance to unit and division staff, as well as the coordinating the unit and division level reporting processes. Regional Monitoring and Standards coordinators, located in each CID regional director’s office provide support to the units and facilitate compliance with standards covering more than 30 functional areas.

For more information

Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Kevin Campbell, Manager
Monitoring and Standards
P.O. Box 99
Huntsville, Texas 77342-0099
(936) 437-4834 Phone
(936) 437-4909 Fax
kevin.campbell@tdcj.state.tx.us