Commission on Accreditation for Corrections

The Commission on Accreditation for Corrections (CAC) is the official accrediting body. Created in 1974, the Commission is the official arbiter of accreditation status for all facilities and agencies. The Commission is comprised of a representative body of corrections professionals from all areas of the field- adult corrections and detention, juvenile corrections and detention, community corrections, probation, parole and correctional health services. Commission members can be ether appointed to their position by the President of the Association or elected to their seat. Members of the Commission include Directors of Corrections, Sheriffs, Jail Administrators, Superintendents, Parole Administrators, Doctors and other administrators with experience in operating everything from large agencies at the state or national level to local facilities with a relatively small staff and population. Currently, ACA, through the Commission, accredits more than 1,300 facilities across the United States and the world. These include Federal, state, local, and private facilities of all types and sizes under ACA’s standards.

Thomas Stickrath has more than 40 years of experience in the criminal justice field. Stickrath began his career in 1978 with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) and subsequently served as warden at the Orient Correctional Institution and regional director of the DRC, before being named assistant director in 1991. In 2005, Governor Bob Taft appointed him the director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS). Under his leadership, the department achieved national accreditation for all of its programs, earning DYS the American Correctional Association's distinguished Eagle Award. In 2010, Governor Ted Strickland appointed Stickrath the director of the Department of Public Safety, where he oversaw divisions including the State Highway Patrol, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Emergency Management Agency, and Homeland Security. The following year, then-Attorney General Mike DeWine tapped Stickrath to serve as superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, overseeing the state crime lab and a team of law enforcement professionals. Stickrath also chaired Ohio's Homeland Security Advisory Council. He returned to the Department of Public Safety in 2019, when he was appointed director by Governor Mike DeWine. Following his retirement from full-time service, Stickrath was named by Governor DeWine as Chairman of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, overseeing the integrity of casino and sports gaming in state. Stickrath has served extensively as a consultant on criminal justice issues to various organizations and state governments. He received his bachelor's degree in business administration from The Ohio State University and his J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and in 2011 received the University's "Distinguished Service Award." His unique career is chronicled in his memoir, "My Life of Managing Crime"