Florida Department of Corrections

Florida Department of Corrections

Inmate mail must be sent to the prison, not their home addresses. The change to incoming snail mail is planned to be gradual over the next six months. Until the change is complete, inmate mail will still be delivered to their home addresses.

Agency

via GIPHY

The Florida Department of Corrections has 143 facilities statewide, including 43 major institutions, 33 work camps, 15 Annexes, 20 work release centers and 6 road prisons/forestry camps. It has more than 23,000 employees, about three-quarters of whom are either certified corrections officers or probation officers. Florida Department of Corrections has K9 units statewide that are frequently utilized for tracking escapees and, in cases of small or rural law enforcement agencies, criminals who have fled from law enforcement or assisting in search and rescue for missing persons.

The Florida Department of Corrections is investigating the in-custody death of a 48-year-old Palatka man serving life in prison for a pair of 2016 murders. Jerry Keene Jr. was found dead Sept. 26 at Wakulla Correctional Institution in Crawfordsville, according to the Department of Corrections. “The safe and secure operation of Florida’s correctional institutions is the Department of Corrections' top priority,” the agency said Wednesday in an emailed statement. The 48-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 44-year-old Thomas Lombardo, who was killed during an argument in January 2016. While in custody on charges in that case, Keene beat his cellmate Austin Steybe, a 20-year-old man awaiting trial in the murder of his own grandmother. (Source: www.news4jax.com)

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With much of the increase linked to two facilities in Union County, an additional 13 state prison inmates have died of COVID-19, according to information released by the Florida Department of Corrections and the Florida Department of Health. Six of the additional deaths were linked to the Reception and Medical Center in Union County, bringing the total for the facility to 29. Also, three were linked to Union Correctional Institution, bringing its total to 10, according to weekly information posted online by the Department of Health. Other facilities tied to the largest numbers of inmate deaths since the start of the pandemic are the South Florida Reception Center, with 20; Dade Correctional Institution, with 10; Columbia Correctional Institution, with nine; Blackwater Correctional Facility, with seven; Everglades Correctional Institution, with six; Graceville Correctional Facility, with six; and the South Bay Correctional Facility, with six. Since the pandemic began, 16,483 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to the Department of Corrections.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Another state prison inmate’s death has been linked to COVID-19, bringing the total number to 132 since the pandemic began, according to information released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Corrections. Also, positive tests among inmates and corrections staff members continued to climb. An additional 82 inmate cases were reported Tuesday, bringing the overall total to 16,349. As of noon Tuesday, 136 inmate COVID-19 tests were pending, with the largest number, 35, at Graceville Correctional Facility in Northwest Florida. Also, an additional 25 corrections workers had tested positive, bringing the total to 3,147, according to the numbers released Tuesday by the department. (Source: www.news4jax.com)