The Pennington County Jail remains one of the few accredited jails in the nation.

The American Correctional Association audited the jail in June and earlier this month gave the facility an accreditation award, which was accepted by Pennington County Jail commander Phillip Greer.

The private, nonprofit association - formerly the American Prison Association - says it is the oldest and largest international correctional association. It claims 80 percent of the state departments of corrections and youth services are participants, as well as facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Greer said less than 10 percent of the jails apply for accreditation, and fewer than 1 percent of the jails - 138 - throughout the nation receive the designation. The county jail pursues the voluntary accreditation to show it upholds nationally accepted standards.

"It provides us with a credibility amongst our peers, the community, jurisdictional authorities we serve," Greer said.

The jail has been accredited since 1993, when Sheriff Don Holloway selected the accreditation program. The review process costs about $3,000, Greer said, and is done every three years.

The American Correctional Association crew inspected the jail on such items as inmate health care, food service, inmate discipline, use of force and the condition of the facility.

Greer said the jail did not comply with a standard of having a full-time dentist - because of the jail's size -- and another standard about some wording in the medical policy.

The Pennington County Jail was 100 percent compliant with 58 mandatory standards and 99 percent compliant with the 294 nonmandatory standards.

Greer said the accreditation not only gives the jail credibility, it also helps to keep standards and policies uniform.

"It really enhances our structure by resulting in clearly-defined policies, procedures, practices," he said. "And that really leads to consistency and effectiveness of jail operations."

The American Correctional Association's accreditation program has been around since the association was founded in 1870. The standards were developed by "national leaders" in the corrections, law, health care, architecture and other groups, according to a news release from the jail.