Inmate Programs

Inmate Release Assistance

• The department is working with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to provide information to offenders about assistance available to them upon release. The department also works to re-establish benefits offenders were receiving prior to their incarceration.

Community Work Squads

• Inmate labor is used on department farms and gardens. Inmates also construct new correctional facilities and perform repairs and renovations to all other department facilities. Inmates prepare and serve all meals, maintain prison grounds, participate in the sanitation and recycling process, and work in PRIDE or Prison Industry Enhancement work programs.
  
  
• Additionally DC provides inmate Community Work Squad labor to work for other governmental agencies such as the departments of Transportation, Juvenile Justice and Agricultural and Consumer Services.

IMPACT
(Inmates Providing Animal Care and Training)

Dogs like these are trained by inmates for use by law enforcement and to aid people with disabilities.

• Gainesville Work Camp in partnership with Southeastern Guide Dog Inc., provides training for puppies to assist people with sight impairments. The IMPACT Program entails conditioning guide dog puppies (Labrador Retrievers, Austrian Sheppards and Collies). The inmates under the guidance of a volunteer representative from Southeastern raise and train the puppies from age 9 weeks until they are 17 months of age.
  
  
• At the end of the training the inmates earn a Veterinary Assistant Certificate with course work designed at the University of Florida. With the knowledge that the inmates acquire they are afforded an opportunity to re-enter society with an employable skill that they can use to become productive citizens.
  
  
• In addition to the IMPACT Training, bloodhounds are trained at various institutions to assist law enforcement agencies with search and recovery missions. Last year, DC received 260 requests for such assistance.

Equine Training Program

• Inmates in this program are taught to train horses through various verbal and non-verbal methods. The training stresses method of working with horses that are non-violent. The department’s equine training program is currently operated at Lowell and Marion Correctional institutions. This program is the result of a partnership with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. Our inmates learn to care for retired thoroughbreds that have sustained an injury or are not able to perform at their peak.
  
  
• The program trains inmates to rehabilitate retired thoroughbred racehorses for use by the department and other law enforcement agencies or to be adopted by the public. Some horses will remain in retirement at the farm. Inmates trained in the equine program will be employable as stable attendants, groomers, or exercisers once they are released from prison.

Masonry Programs

Inmates work in mason program in various institutions throughout the state.

• The Department and the Florida Masonry Apprentice and Educational Foundation are working together in a referral pre-apprenticeship masonry program for offenders who have masonry job skills.
  
  
• In this partnership, DC provides masonry training for inmates enrolled in the masonry vocational training programs at Baker CI, Brevard CI, Columbia CI, DeSoto CI, Hamilton CI, Indian River CI, Sumter CI, and Taylor CI. Our vocational staff members promote working relationships between institutional masonry programs and masonry organizations in Florida.
  
  
• The partnership includes job placement assistance for released offenders who have been referred by the department through registration in the apprenticeship program. Working relationships developed between our agencies assist in the placement of affordable, skilled and efficient craftsmen in this highly competitive industry.