Pinellas SMART Re-Entry Probation

The Second Chance Act signed into law on April 9, 2008, provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of people who are released from prison and jail and returning to communities, including resources to address the myriad needs of these offenders to achieve a successful return to their communities. As a complement to the Second Chance Act programs, the FY 2014 Smart Supervision Program (SSP) seeks to improve probation and parole success rates, which would in turn improve public safety, reduce admissions to prisons and jails, and save taxpayer dollars. The goal of this program is to develop and test innovative strategies to implement evidence-based probation and parole approaches that increase community safety, and reduce violent crime by effectively addressing individuals' risk and needs, and reducing recidivism.

The Florida Department of Corrections will utilize the FY14 Smart Supervision: Reducing Prison Populations, Saving Money, and Creating Safer Communities award to support the Pinellas SMART Re-entry Probation Pilot Project. Funds will be utilized to increase capacity of the State to; help probation agencies improve supervision; test new policies and strategies in community supervision and treatment to increase public safety and generate savings; analyze and implement changes to policies and practices that guide community supervision conditions and revocation procedures; promote the use of evidence-based programs and strategies by service providers that provide treatment, aftercare, reentry services, and alternatives to incarceration to those on supervision; and evaluate the results of the new strategies and tools tested through this initiative. CA/NCF