Facility Description

The Corrections Department was operated by the Osceola County Sheriff until March 1, 1997, when operations were transferred to the Board of County Commissioners. Current Department Chief Sherry Johnson was appointed in 2010.

The Department has 434 authorized positions, and is currently staffed by 383 employees.

The Osceola County Correctional Facility was constructed in 1986, and renovated during 1998 and 1999. The renovations included the refurbishing of the administrative, intake and medical areas, along with the addition of two direct supervision areas, multi-purpose areas and a kitchen. The medical unit has two negative air flow cells, six segregation cells, ten beds in the male medical bay and two beds in the female medical bay. The facility has a total bed capacity of 873, including medical and temporary segregation units.

Health care services for the facility include an initial medical screening by medical staff, constant staffing of nurses, daily sick calls, and the availability of a full-time advance nurse practitioner.

Food Services are provided through a contract with Aramark. Inmate Commissary services are provided by Keefe.

The Corrections Department is responsible for the daily operations of Judicial Services, Security Division, Operations Division, Public Safety Security, Pre-Trial Release / Community Corrections Division, Health Services Division and Forensic Drug Testing Lab Division.

In February, 2003, the Osceola County Corrections Department was initially accredited by Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission, and was re-accredited in February 2006 and February 2009. In October 2003, the Osceola County Corrections Department was accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and re-accredited in October 2006, October 2009 and March 2010.

The Department is committed to providing each inmate an environment of learning, with the opportunity to better themselves during their incarceration. To help accomplish this goal, Osceola County has a mental health counselor, an addiction professional, one senior case manager and eight case managers. Additionally, there are a number of volunteers and contract service providers that offer a wide variety of programs to meet the needs of the population and help fulfill our mission. Programs include Correctional Learning Network, GED, ESOL, ESE, Abundant Life, Victim Awareness, Forgive to live, Employability, Careers Classes, Veteran’s Classes, Stepping Stones Classes, Inmate Printing Program, Sewing Seeds for the Future Class, Real Men Real Talk Class, Living Hope Class, Cage Your Rage Class, HIV-Education, Re-Entry Services, AA and NA Groups, Life Skills Health Classes, Life Skills Relapse Prevention, Drug Offender Prevention Education D.O.P.E., and Introduction to Computers Vocational Training.

The average inmate daily population for the 2010 Calendar Year was 1019.

During October 2009 through September 2010 Fiscal Year, there were 2,765 cases released to Pretrial Release supervision. There was an 81% successful completion rate 2,035 cases closed successfully for Pretrial Release during this period.