The Office of Community Corrections mission is to protect the community by supervising offenders and reporting non-compliance to the sentencing or releasing authority. Correctional probation officers enforce standard conditions of supervision stipulated by statute, as well as special conditions imposed by the court or sentencing authority, including victim restitution, substance abuse and/or mental health treatment programs, and other sanctions or restrictions. Offenders are monitored through field contacts at their residences, employment sites and other locations in the community. Officers conduct investigations and violation reports. Officers make appropriate referrals to assist the offender with resources available to complete their term of supervision successfully. The office also manages offenders received for supervision from other states through interstate compact agreements.

Offenders are supervised as directed by the court or the Florida Commission on Offender Review (FCOR). Types of supervision include contractual agreement, court imposed, and post-prison release.

Contractual Agreement

• Pretrial intervention is a type of supervision intended for first time non-violent offenders. Consent must be obtained from the victim, the state attorney, and in some jurisdictions, as in the case of drug courts, the judge. Offenders sign a contract, agreeing to certain terms and conditions of supervision. If the offender completes the program successfully, charges are dropped. If the offender does not comply with the terms of the contract, the case is referred back to the state attorney for further prosecution.

Court Imposed

• Probation is a court-ordered term of community supervision under specified conditions for a specific period of time that cannot exceed the maximum sentence for the offense. It is the most common type of community supervision. The offender on probation is required to abide by all conditions ordered by the court, such as not violating the law, monthly reporting requirements, not changing residence or employment or leaving the county without consent from probation officer, paying the costs of supervision and random drug testing and searches.
• Drug offender probation is a more intensive form of supervision, which emphasizes treatment of drug offenders and monitoring of offenders' substance use disorder through field supervision, contact with treatment providers, and random drug testing.
• Sex offender probation is an intensive form of supervision, which emphasizes sex offender treatment and close monitoring in the field to ensure compliance with sex offender conditions of supervision and sex offender registration requirements. For more detailed descriptions of the sex offender standard conditions of supervision, please refer to s. 948.30, Florida Statutes.
• Community control is a form of intensive supervised house arrest, including surveillance on weekends and holidays. Offenders are restricted to their residence, with the exception of being allowed to work, attend treatment, visit the probation office, and limited other occasions that must be approved in advance by the community control officer.

Post-Prison Release   

• Parole is a post-prison supervision program where eligible inmates have the terms and conditions of parole set by the Florida Commission on Offender Review (FCOR), an agency separate from the department that was formerly known as the Florida Parole Commission. The period of parole cannot exceed the balance of the offender's original sentence. Under parole, the offender is to be supervised in the community by Department of Corrections probation officers under specific conditions imposed by the FCOR. Only offenders sentenced for offenses committed prior to October 1, 1983, can be eligible for parole.  As of June 2022, 3,661 inmates met parole eligibility criteria and 374 offenders were on parole supervision. In Fiscal Year 2021-22, the FCOR made 1,013 parole determinations and granted parole to 27 inmates. Parole violations are reported by probation officers to the FCOR, which makes the final determination whether to continue the offender on supervision, modify the conditions of supervision, or revoke the supervision and return the offender to prison.
• Conditional release requires mandatory post-prison supervision for inmates who are sentenced for certain violent crimes, such as murder, manslaughter, and sexual offenses, and who have had a previous commitment to a state or federal institution or have been convicted as a habitual offender or sexual predator. As of June 2022, there were 2,693 releases on conditional release supervision.  Upon reaching their release date with accrued gain time, an inmate is placed on conditional release to serve up to the remainder of their sentence.  The FCOR imposes the conditions of supervision on offenders released to conditional release supervision, while Department of Corrections' probation officers provide supervision. In Fiscal Year 2021-22, the commission set the terms and conditions for 4,714 releasees. Conditional release violations are reported by probation officers to the FCOR, which makes the final determination whether to continue the offender on supervision, modify the conditions of supervision, or revoke the supervision and return the offender to prison. In Fiscal Year 2021-22, the commission made 1,238 revocation determinations and issued 1,554 arrest warrants.
• Addiction recovery is a form of supervision for certain offenders released from a state correctional facility, convicted of a crime committed on or after July 1, 2001, when the offender has a history of substance abuse or a substance addiction and participated in any drug treatment. As of June 2022, there were 144 offenders on addiction recovery supervision. The FCOR imposes the conditions of supervision on offenders released to addiction recovery supervision, which include substance abuse treatment and random drug testing to monitor substance abuse. In Fiscal Year 2021-22, FCOR set the conditions for 537 offenders that were placed under this supervision. Supervision is provided by Department of Corrections' probation officers. Addiction recovery supervision violations are reported by probation officers to the FCOR, which makes the final determination whether to continue the offender on supervision, modify the conditions of supervision, or revoke the supervision and return the offender to prison.

As of March 2023, the average community supervision sentence was 4.4 years. The median sentence length was 3.0 years.

Correctional probation officers serve to protect the community and provide supervision by

• monitoring and enforcing offender compliance with conditions of supervision;
• reporting non-compliance to the court or the Florida Commission on Offender Review (FCOR) and providing recommendations for appropriate sanctions;
• visiting the offender in the community to monitor compliance with conditions of supervision, conduct searches and curfew checks, verify residence and employment, and observe attendance at treatment or community service work sites; and
• assisting law enforcement with violation arrests, deportation, sex offender registration requirements, gang or other public safety/crime prevention initiatives or intelligence.

Correctional probation officers also play a part in reducing victimization and recidivism by assisting offenders to succeed by

• working with the offender to identify what is needed to comply with conditions of supervision and change behavior (e.g. employment, stable residence, education, vocational skills, transportation, counseling, etc.);
• holding offenders accountable for their actions and decisions by providing positive reinforcement and incentives to motivate offenders and reward good behavior and by acting quickly, firmly, and fairly to address non-compliance or declining behavior;
• collaborating with community partners to provide services and resources for offenders; and
• maintaining partnerships in the community to provide offenders with services such as transportation, employment assistance, and educational and vocational opportunities.

The court can order offenders to pay financial obligations such as restitution to victims, fines, court costs, and other related payments such as cost of supervision. The department has a computerized payment system into which payments from offenders are received and money is disbursed according to payment priority with restitution to victims being the first priority. In Fiscal Year 2021-22 the department collected more than $83.5 million in court-ordered obligations.

Custody and Supervision of Specified Offenders. The 2023 Legislature enacted Ch. 2023-146, Laws of Florida, which prohibits the Florida Department of Corrections from granting basic gain-time or incentive gain-time to someone who commits, attempts, solicits, or conspires to commit sexual battery and other sexual offenses on or after July 1, 2023. Gain-time is when the department grants deductions to an inmates sentence. However, gain-time cannot decrease an inmate's sentence shorter than 85% of their term of imprisonment imposed by the court. Basic gain-time is defined in s. 944.275(4)(a), Florida Statutes, and allows the department to award an inmate up to 10 days each month if they demonstrate satisfactory behavior while incarcerated. Incentive gain-time is defined in s. 944.275(4)(b), Florida Statutes, and allows the department to award up to 10 days per month to an inmate who diligently participates in training, uses time constructively, or otherwise engages in positive activity. Further, the law requires a court to sentence a person to additional conditions of probation if the person is convicted of attempting, soliciting, or conspiring to commit an enumerated offense.

Probationary or Supervision Services for Misdemeanor Offender. The 2022 Legislature enacted Ch. 2022-166, Laws of Florida, which removes a statutory prohibition to a private entity providing probationary or supervision services to misdemeanor offenders who are sentenced by a circuit court. Previously, a private entity could only provide supervision to offenders sentenced by a county court.  The law also transfers the authority to approve a contract with a private entity to provide supervision services for misdemeanor offenders from the county court judge or administrative judge to the chief judge of the circuit.

Other Reports
The Auditor General reports on department operations are available on its website
Department of Corrections-Community Supervision, Selective Administrative Activities, and Prior Audit Follow-Up, Auditor General Report 2020-006, July 2019
Statistics and Publications, Florida Department of Corrections
Agency Annual Reports, Florida Department of Corrections

Websites of Interest
American Probation and Parole Association

Performance Information

Department of Corrections, 850-488-7052
Website