The medical staff at the King County Jail and, to a lesser degree, at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, have received their share of criticism.

In late 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division issued a scathing assessment of medical care at the King County Jail. The feds and King County officials are currently in talks to resolve the issues raised by the report.

An inquest is beginning soon on the death of one inmate who died of a perforated ulcer while at the jail last year. And MRSA remains an ongoing health problem for the medical staff there.

But Thursday, there was good news for Jail Health Services, which provides medical care for the county lockups.

It was announced that the program receieved national accreditation by the Chicago-based National Commission on Correctional Health Care, something not easy to obtain.

The commission's mission, according to its Web site, is " to improve the quality of health care in jails, prisons and juvenile confinement facilities."

To that end, the team examined inmate care and treatment at the jail, disease prevention, training, health records maintenance and other aspects of Jail Health Services.

Out of 35 standards, the downtown jail met 33 of them. The RJC met 32 out of 34 standards that applied to that facility.

County officials are clearly pleased with the results.

"Accreditation is difficult to achieve and only a fraction of jails receive it," said County Executive Ron Sims in a statement.

Public Health of Seattle and King County, which oversees jail medical operations, attributed the passing grades it received to recent improvements at the jail.

These include an electronic health record system, new guidelines on managing disease and treating skin infections, and improved training for medical staff.