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| ACA Winter Conference Brings Corrections Professionals Together |
| By The Corrections Connection Staff |
| Published: 02/05/2001 |
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Corrections administrators and staff gathered last week to network and for professional development at the American Correctional Association's Annual Winter Conference in Nashville. The conference focused on staff health and safety but also covered a variety of other topics including gang management and new technologies under development. 'The ACA and corrections in general has focused on rehabilitative efforts for offenders and sometimes we have been negligent in not looking at staff as out most important asset. This conference focused on that,' said James Gondles Jr. Executive Director of the ACA. The conference, which attracted close to 4,000 attendees, featured thoughtful discussion by two guest speakers: Martin Luther King III at the conference opening session and Dr. Hunter 'Patch' Adams at the conference luncheon as well as a full exhibit hall of products and technologies and professional development workshops. Events At the Opening Session, King, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said he gave special thought to his speech to ACA conference attendees because incarceration is such a critical and emotional issue. He recalled that when, as a youngster, he had been upset about his father spending time behind bars his mother told him that he was 'going to jail to make our nation a better place for all of God's children.' King also related his concern for the large number of people whoa re incarcerated, many of whom are substance abusers, illiterate and are parents, as well as the concern he had regarding the proportionately high number of African Americans in the country's prisons and jails. He closed hi remarks by reciting a few of his father's words including 'the ultimate measure of man is not where he stands at times of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.' Also at the opening session, the ACA honored two awards, the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Award to Angela Pendergrass-McCloe, who works at the Middletown (Ohio) Municipal Court and who is pursuing a master's degree in criminal justice in hopes of becoming a probation officer. The Medal of Valor was presented to the family of the late Capt. David Knapps, who died in 1999 when inmates attempted to escape the Louisiana State Penitentiary. He was murdered after refusing to surrender his keys to the six inmates who planned to escape. At the annual luncheon, Patch Adams, dressed in colorful garb and wearing one blue and one yellow sock, entertained the crowd and provided thought provoking commentary on and described his mission to help the underprivileged receive adequate health care. Adams said as a student he realized he did not want to live in a world of violence and injustice. This realization led him to hospitalization in a mental hospital when he became suicidal. To bring himself out of the hospital, he recommitted his life to 'serving humanity' and resolved to 'never have another bad day and insist on loving life.' Later on, after attending medical school, Adams focused on health care delivery and early on, opened a free 24-hour hospital to serve the underprivileged. This desire has grown into a mission to build his own free hospital. The movie of his life starring Robin Williams, he said, has helped him get closer to achieving this goal. In a question and answer session with the audience, Adams raised several issues including the growth of materialism in our society, the increased influence of media conglomerates and his opinions of mental health diagnosis for children. Workshops In addition to events, ACA Winter conference attendees participated in workshops aimed at staff safety as well as other topics including the management of mentally ill offenders and the use of automatic defibrillators in corrections. According to Gondles, the sessions were well attended and in many cases had 'standing room only.' In a workshop Sunday, Dr. Robert Jones, Medical Director of the Montana Department of Corrections, spoke about creating behavioral management programs and managing and modifying the behavior of mentally ill and disruptive inmates. Treating inmates with care and respect was one of his suggestions. In a Tuesday workshop on automatic defibrillators and their use in corrections, Samuel Shartar, Clinical Services Consultant for the Georgia Department of Corrections, spoke to participants about why these devices are necessary. His reasons included: most persons in corrections are in isolated areas and may not be reachable by paramedics in time, the population is susceptible to sudden death, corrections staff are susceptible to sudden death and corrections professionals can easily use these devices. Vendors In the exhibit hall, which had more than 400 booths, participants not only had a chance to test new products and devices but they also were entertained by a country western band, a spaghetti eating contest and give-aways. ACA officials said the first four hours of the exhibit hall opening on Monday were described as some of the busiest vendors had seen. 'A lot of folks are interested in technology and are congregating at booths with products that can make their jobs easier,' said Gondles. The fun began on Monday evening when at the exhibit hall reception members of the ACA's executive board volunteered for a spaghetti eating contest. With huge plates of spaghetti before them and a Don Corleone-like Gondles moderating, the contestants has four minutes to chow down on as much pasta as possible. In the end, with help from the audience, ACA President Betty Adams Green was deemed the winner. Other participants included participants included ACA President-Elect Charles Kehoe, ACA Vice President Gwen Chunn, ACA Treasurer David Parrish, Commissioner of Tennessee DOC Donal Campbell, Managing Director of Cornell Companies, Ken Pompi, Inmate Services Director of Public Communication Services in L.A., Joe Pekarovic and Rosser Justice Systems President Buddy Golson. Vendors were also pleased with the attendance at the hall including John Cronin, Sales, Turtleskin Protective Materials. 'The show was very good for us and definitely profitable - we'll make up in profit what we spent on the trip. We took 60 leads home with us, but had many more stop by the booth. We thought that this was the best organized show we've been to,' he said. Cronin said this was the second ACA show his company has attended as an exhibitor. |
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