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.

Lambert N. King, MD, PhD
For distinguished service to the field of correctional health care
     The common thread running through the 36-year medical career of Lambert N. King, MD, PhD, is a dual interest in health care scholarship and dedication to patient care. From early on, he has applied those interests to advance the quality of health care for inmates.
     Dr. King is the director of the department of medicine at Queens Hospital Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Previous appointments include medical director at Cermak Memorial Hospital, in affiliation with Cook County Hospital in Chicago, and director of the Montefiore Rikers Island Health Services in New York in the early days of correctional medicine. Later, he was vice dean at New York Medical College.
     An esteemed ally of NCCHC, Dr. King was a member of the jail and prisons standards task force and serves as NCCHC’s principal investigator of the JEHT Foundation grant. Now in its third year, the grant helps professionals to explore, understand, stimulate and facilitate prerelease discharge planning and continuity of health care for those returning home from prisons and jails.
     Dr. King was appointed by federal district court judges as an expert on health care services in correctional institutions in Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee, New Mexico and Puerto Rico, and served on the New York City task force on tuberculosis in the criminal justice system. He has written extensively in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, abstracts and other publications, and has given presentations on tuberculosis, epilepsy, AIDS, and morbidity and mortality among prisoners.
     Professional honors include the Graduate Medical Education Distinguished Service Award from New York Medical College, the Dr. Linda Laubenstein HIV Clinical Excellence Award from the New York State AIDS Institute and Distinguished Service Recognition for Outstanding Leadership of the New York State Council on Graduate Medical Education from the Commissioner of Health.

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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.

Curt R. Bartol, PhD
For improving the field of correctional health care through a record of great accomplishment as editor of Criminal Justice and Behavior
     Over the past dozen years, Criminal Justice and Behavior: An International Journal (CJB) has thrived, growing from a bimonthly to a monthly and publishing manuscripts of markedly high quality. Credit Curt R. Bartol, PhD, for the improvements. A licensed clinical psychologist, he has been editor of CJB since 1996. CJB is the official publication of the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology and is published by Sage. Its subject matter deals with the interface between the behavioral sciences and the criminal justice system, with emphasis on empirical research on assessment, classification, prevention, intervention and treatment programs. The journal also publishes theoretical and integrative review articles, commentaries and book reviews.
     Dr. Bartol obtained his doctorate in social psychology and for 35 years has focused his career on providing psychological services to law enforcement, consulting for local, municipal, state and federal agencies. He also has authored or coauthored numerous books, including Delinquency and Justice: A Systems Approach, Psychology and the Law: Research and Application, Introduction to Forensic Psychology: Research and Application and Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach, and edited the periodical Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology. For 33 years, Dr. Bartol taught psychology and law at Castleton State College in Vermont and founded its graduate program in forensic psychology, which he directed for six years.

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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.

York Correctional Institution, Niantic, Connecticut
     When nine staff members undertake the effort to earn certification through NCCHC’s Certified Correctional Health Professional program, that says something about a health department’s commitment to quality. Indeed, a consistent focus on professionalism and excellence in health care delivery is a chief factor in NCCHC’s selection of York Correctional Institution as Facility of the Year. Another is a collaborative approach between custody and health staff.
      Although it is accredited under NCCHC’s prison standards, York CI functions as both prison and jail, and is the state’s only correctional institution for women. Health services have been provided since 1997 by the University of Connecticut Health Center’s Correctional Managed Health Care Program. Five years later, the facility achieved initial accreditation. “The UConn health staff are extremely supportive of NCCHC’s accreditation program, mission and goals,” says the surveyor who nominated the facility.
     Also noteworthy is the extensive array of programming and interventions available for the population of 1,400 inmates, including an 80-bed intensive drug treatment unit and a reentry center for women.

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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.

Discharge Planning Program
District of Columbia Department of Corrections
     The discharge planning program is integral to the overall approach to health care at the District of Columbia jail, accredited by NCCHC since 2001. With services provided by Unity Health Care, a not-for-profit social services organization, the jail takes a community-oriented approach that emphasizes continuity of care. Unity offers a vast network of sites and services to which inmates are linked upon release. Many providers who care for inmates in the jail also work in community health centers, which enables postrelease follow-up with the same provider.
     These efforts have yielded many positive results. For instance, every inmate receives an initial treatment plan at medical intake, and virtually all inmates with chronic disease or other medical issues are seen before release and receive a discharge plan. Special assistance is also given to inmates receiving residential substance abuse treatment. To prevent anyone from slipping through the cracks, several strategies are used to aid inmates whose release is unplanned. Postrelease tracking has documented high rates of follow-up with health services in the community.