Sheriff’s Office awarded Re-Accreditation in Correctional Facility

MARYVILLE, TENNESSEE – Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong is proud to announce that Tennessee Corrections Institute renewed the Sheriff’s Office Correctional Facility Tier 1 & Tier 2 accreditation today in Franklin.

Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) originally awarded the Sheriff’s Office Tier 2 accreditation in December 2022 and received re-accreditation in 2023 and 2024. Tier 1 and Tier 2 accreditation standards apply to local correctional facilities that voluntarily adopt accreditation for purposes of improving access to evidence-based inmate programming to help insure inmates’ successful reentry into society, reducing recidivism within the agency’s jurisdiction, improved rehabilitation services, and increased reimbursement for state-sentenced inmates.

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office is one of a handful of agencies in Tennessee that were awarded Tier 2 accreditation, with Anderson County Sheriff’s Office the only other agency in East Tennessee to receive Tier 2 accreditation.

“Our Corrections staff continually strives to maintain excellence in our correctional facility,” Sheriff Berrong said. “We have 50 a set of TCI standards, many of which focus on education, life skills, and behavioral health for inmates, and we met most of those standards. We will strive to keep meeting those standards and more to keep our facility running efficiently and safely.”

The Sheriff’s Office will undergo re-accreditation through TCI in 2026.