Bernard P. Harrison Award of Merit
NCCHC’s highest honor, this award is presented to an individual or group that has demonstrated excellence and service that has advanced the correctional health care field, either through an individual project or a history of service.

Quentin Young, MD
For mentoring and inspiring countless physicians to become involved in correctional health care.
     If it were not for Quentin Young, MD, some of the bright young medical students who passed through Cook County (IL) Hospital in the 1970s and ‘80s never would have thought to work in a jail or prison. But as chairman of the hospital’s internal medicine department, he encouraged them to devote their careers to disadvantaged populations, and many of them have gone on to prominent leadership positions in correctional health care. Today, our field is far better for it.
     The Chicago-based physician is well-known as a tireless advocate for populations without a health care safety net, which includes many of those incarcerated in our correctional facilities. Dr. Young’s prominent voice has helped Americans to become attuned to health policy and social justice. For decades, he has worked to formulate and promote policy to meet the needs of the underserved and to forge partnerships that lead to effective programs. In 1980, he founded the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, an independent, not-for-profit research and advocacy institute to advance such goals; he currently serves as its chairman.
     Among his many other professional accomplishments, Dr. Young has served as president of the American Public Health Association and was inducted as a master of the American College of Physicians, where he chaired the organization’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and Medical Practice. He also is the national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of 14,000 physicians who support single-payer national health insurance.

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B. Jaye Anno Award of Excellence in Communication
This award pays tribute to innovative, well-executed communications that have had a positive impact on the field of correctional health care, or to individuals for bodies of work.

Ken Kerle, PhD
For his significant achievements in raising awareness of health care issues through editorial coverage in American Jails magazine.
     In the past 20 years, jail administrators have come a long way in understanding and appreciating correctional health care issues. That, in no small part, is thanks to the efforts of Ken Kerle, PhD. At the helm of American Jails since its inception in 1987, Dr. Kerle has consistently, and persistently, made health care a regular topic in the magazine, which is published bimonthly by the American Jail Association and distributed to its members. He understood from the start that health care is an essential element of jail management and operations, and that it merits thorough coverage in keeping with the magazine’s editorial mission.
     With more than 30 years of experience in corrections—including work as a correctional officer early in his career—Dr. Kerle is well-qualified for his role in shaping the discourse in this field. And although he reaches a large and important audience through the magazine, that’s not his only contribution to the literature. He also is the author of American Jails: Looking to the Future and Exploring Jail Operations, and has written more than 200 articles, papers and editorials on the topic of local corrections. In addition, he has lectured at colleges and universities and presented at national and international criminal justice conferences.

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Facility of the Year
This prestigious award is presented to one facility selected from among the nearly 500 prisons, jails, and juvenile detention and confinement facilities accredited by NCCHC.

Montgomery County Correctional Facility and Montgomery County Detention Center
The outstanding performance of the correctional and detention facilities in Montgomery County, Maryland, has earned them, jointly, NCCHC’s Facility of the Year Award. Accredited since 1977, they have consistently complied with the Standards for Health Services in Jails, attaining a high quality of health care for inmates. A holistic approach to inmate health care is one positive trait that sets these facilities apart. The nominating surveyors noted a unique emphasis on addressing the needs of the whole individual, and that is evident in the collaborative way health, custody, program and community representatives work to manage inmates’ needs. Multidisciplinary committees and initiatives channel inmates into appropriate medical, mental health and addiction therapies, as well as training programs for educational, occupational and reentry skills. Health services for the nearly 800 inmates (average daily population) are provided by the county.

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Program of the Year
This award recognizes programs of excellence among the thousands provided by NCCHC-accredited prisons, jails, and juvenile detention and confinement facilities.

Medical Discharge Program
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Detention Department
While NCCHC’s Standards for Health Services have always called for continuity of care for inmates released to the community, jail administrators increasingly recognize that discharge planning is an essential part of health services. The initiative in Hillsborough County, Florida, is a fine example of how it should be done. In May 2006, the jail restructured its discharge planning program to comprehensively address inmates’ medical and mental health needs upon release. Surveyors who nominated the program were impressed with the cooperative spirit with which the Sheriff’s Office, the Hillsborough County Department of Health and Human Services, the Tampa Community Health Centers and the jail’s full-time medical discharge planner developed the program. A little more than a year later, the program has already proven to be a success in aiding releasees. A bonus: A six-month study found a significant reduction in recidivism.