Last week, the Charlotte Convention Center became the Charlotte Corrections Center.

With the kick off of the American Correctional Association summer conference, corrections practitioners, vendors and administrators took over North Carolina in a frenzy of free goodies, workshops and banquets.

From the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents naming Corrections Corporation of America's Mike Samberg Warden of the Year to a giant tour bus turned prison bus parked on the exhibit hall floor, there was something for everyone. At workshops experts offered stories and advice on far-ranging topics from improved juvenile justice programs to what it's like to manage death row inmates.

Corrections.com caught up with Pennsylvania DOC Secretary Jeffrey Beard, MTC Institute's Executive Director Carl Nink and MHM Services Vice President of Marketing Mike Brewer for more on this year's ACA summer conference.

Corrections.com: How many years have you attended the ACA conference?

Nink: I have attended ACA conferences for about 20 years, since back in the mid-eighties and I've enjoyed it every year.

Brewer: This is my fifth year attending ACA as a vendor for MHM. We offer mental health services for inmates, and we really like to raise awareness at ACA.

CC: What was your favorite part about ACA this year?

Nink: I go to the ACA conference for a number of reasons. Because of the position that I have in terms of looking at trends and promising practices in corrections, I want to find out what other people are seeing. ACA brings up new issues in corrections. Networking is one of the most important benefits that I think the ACA conference offers.

Essentially, you are dealing with people with similar interests and backgrounds. You can expand your knowledge base about the industry. I call it an industry because there are so many different facets, which you can clearly see from the variety of vendors there. I like to walk the floor and talk to a lot of people.

Brewer: The best part about ACA is meeting new potential customers and having the chance to see our current customers. The opening ceremony was also really beautiful this year.

CC: Was there a workshop or speaker that you really enjoyed?

Nink: I attended a number of workshops. The one I did enjoy very much was Author Meets Critics about the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons report “Confronting Confinement” (See “A commission's idea on correcting corrections” and “Corrections sounds off”). It was a good give and take. There were a few folks that critiqued the report and had a number of comments.

The folks who presented their information about the report responded to the criticism in a very credible way. They did not have the benefit of knowing what the critics were going to say in advance and they responded in a professional, thoughtful and rather concise way to a variety of different criticisms. I think they did a good job of defending themselves and the processes that they used to arrive at their decisions. Some of which I still do not agree with, but where there were points of discussion between the authors and critics, I think the authors did a credible job of addressing those criticisms.

Brewer: I actually spent most of the time working the floor at the exhibit hall, but that's a benefit for MHM. Although I didn't catch every workshop I wanted to see, I did have a chance to network with many new faces, and that's the part of ACA that I always enjoy.

Also, with ACA we get a nice chance to meet with directors and commissioners, which is really beneficial for us in terms of raising awareness and making connections.

CC: Why do you think the ACA conference is valuable for corrections?

Beard:  The ACA has made a major difference in corrections as we know it today from its standards to its conferences to its publications. Corrections would still largely be mired in the dark ages if it were not for the work that it does. It is a real shame that more prisons and jails have not become a part of this process. If they would, our prisons and jails nationwide would be more secure, safer and more humanely run.

Nink: It is important that corrections officials nationwide have a point of coming together to talk about their mutual concerns, their successes and opportunities for growth. ACA offers that for the profession.

You find line staff, supervisors, wardens, directors, commissioners, research professionals, and vendors, all coming together to share information and communicate with each other and hopefully plot the course of a more successful future for corrections and detention. Whether or not you are jails or prisons, even the community partners like Salvation Army, there is just a variety of benefits that can be derived from attending the conference.

CC: Would you recommend the conference to other professionals?

Nink: I have always tried to attend and I think it's of great benefit to anyone involved in the industry. Anyone who attends would get something out of it. I would recommend it.

Brewer: I do recommend the conference to other professionals and vendors. The summer conferences are about a day too long for vendors or exhibitors, but other than that, I really enjoy it. In the winter, you only exhibit a day and a half, and that's plenty. Sometimes there is a lot of down time in the exhibit time. By tightening up the exhibit schedule, they might cut a day out of it. That's my only complaint.

Beard: I would urge all corrections professionals to become a part of the ACA, to attend their conferences and to submit to the accreditation process. Our facilities and our communities would be better places for all.