The commission was formed to promote educational and research activity in correctional health care; and to devise, develop and implement programs that will improve the health care provided for inmates of prisons, jails, detention and juvenile correctional facilities through accreditation and such other activities as revision of standards, survey and data collection, analysis of health care needs of inmates and cost effectiveness of upgrading mental and health services, technical assistance, consulting services, education and training, certification of correctional health professionals, and the publication of useful monographs, manuals and other literature.