(PUEBLO, Colo.) — Those at the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) are quite literally jumping for joy. PCSO’s Detention Bureau earned a 5th consecutive American Correctional Association (ACA) accreditation on Saturday, Jan. 28.

ACA standards are the national benchmark for the effective operation of correctional systems, according to PCSO. The Pueblo County Jail was granted another three-year ACA accreditation after meeting 100% of all mandatory standards and 96.3% of non-mandatory standards.

“Achieving this re-accreditation is testament that the Pueblo County Jail staff continues to perform at a high standard,” said Pueblo County Sheriff David J. Lucero. “It truly was a team effort to achieve this goal, particularly given our aging jail.”

Sheriff Lucero along with Detention Bureau Chief, Paul Toth, and several jail employees were
presented with the re-accreditation certificate at the annual ACA Winter Conference in
Orlando, Florida.

The re-accreditation resulted from a three-day audit of the jail facility, policies and procedures, observations and interviews with jail staff. The audit was composed of 59 applicable mandatory standards and 300 applicable non-mandatory standards, per PCSO.

PCSO said the standards that were unable to be met were due to physical plant design issues of a 42-year-old facility.

“I want to thank all the employees for their professionalism and dedicated work that is required to maintain the stringent standards needed for this accreditation,” said Sheriff Lucero.