The importance of accreditation within the correctional setting is extremely important dealing with prisoners. The Correctional association was founded in 1870, as the National Prison Association, also serves all disciplines with the corrections profession and is dedicated of excellence in every aspect of the field. accreditation is a system of verification that correctional agencies/facilities comply with national standards promulgated by the American Correctional Association. Accreditation is achieved through a series of reviews, evaluations, audits and hearings. The main benefits of the ACA accreditation is to assess the facility's strengths and weaknesses to build a better staff, holding staff and prisoners accountable for their actions. Identifying goals to be achieved such as having a percentage of prisoners who have not received a high school diploma or GED, while serving time have obtained their GED so once released back into societies normal population the prisoner can began to plan his/her future whether deciding to further education or obtaining employment. Prisons also following policies and procedures, following guidelines within their prisons with their daily operations. The most important is the level of staff professionalism and morale making sure the staff treats the prisoners with respect regardless of what their offense was for. It usually takes a prison up to 18 months to receive their accreditation award, the award is good for 3 years. during the 3 year accreditation period the agency will submit an annual certification which is due on the anniversary date, maintaining the following. Compliance levels, and updated plans of action within the prison. When a facility becomes accredited there is a certificate which is publicly recognized for their outstanding efforts. There are mandatory audits done by an auditor who will make sure