Team Showcase:

2008 Team Showcase Competition: Region 1

2008 Region 1 Winner

Region One Team CON-struction Escambia County Road Prison Road Department for Escambia County Escambia County

The Escambia County Road Prison is a division of the Road Department for Escambia County, reporting to the Board of County Commissioners. The prison staff consists of 84 employees, responsible for an average population of 210 inmates. The Road Prison serves an area with an approximate population of 350,000 citizens in the west Florida area, and has been in existence since the 1970’s.

The Prison’s Vision is: “A Prison with a Vision; Giving Back to our Community Better than we Received. We endeavor to provide our community better citizens through viable skills training and social programs for our inmates. If our inmates succeed, we all succeed.”

In 2004, the Team became concerned about the recidivism rate for the prison population, and began to research ways and ideas they could to reduce this return rate. Seeing young men return to prison year after year fostered two questions.  What makes them return, and can we reduce this massive recidivism rate?  Searching for answers to the questions drove the development of a five-year plan and the birth of team “CON-struction”.  By successfully answering the questions and devising corrective measures we were able to not only reduce the number of young men returning prison, but also improve the community and save the county millions of dollars.

After identifying the need for skills training among the inmate population, the prison partnered with the community and the local Vocational School.  These partnerships resulted in offering initial skills training in carpentry, welding, and horticulture. Based of the success of these programs, the Team has gained more involvement, volunteers, and contributions from the community. These efforts have resulted in a reduction in the recidivism rate, which is currently 11%, compared to the State of Florida average of 48%. The program is considered as a role model for other counties, and has been shared with Gadsden, Port St. Lucie, and other counties in Florida to be used as a model to implement a similar program.

This project has also served as a benefit to the community, not only in providing productive citizens, but in cost saving for service and taxpayer dollars. The projects completed by the inmate population through the various training programs have resulted in savings to the community exceeding $5.16 million.

Crucial to our success is the further reduction of the recidivism rate. Although we have seen a drastic reduction based on our Program, we have learned that most inmates who have returned to prison after entering our programs have shorter sentences which do not allow them to complete the full program. Based on this research, we have made adjustments to the program to respond to those inmates with shorter sentences. We have found that inmates who complete the full program do not return to prison. We are also enhancing the program to add post secondary education, culinary, plumbing, and electrical programs.

Counties in Region 1: Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Walton, Washington