The Florida Senate

948.10  Community control programs.--

(1)  The Department of Corrections shall develop and administer a community control program. Such community control program and required manuals shall be developed in consultation with the Florida Conference of Circuit Court Judges and the office of the State Courts Administrator. This complementary program shall be rigidly structured and designed to accommodate offenders who, in the absence of such a program, would have been incarcerated. The program shall focus on the provision of sanctions and consequences which are commensurate with the seriousness of the crime. The program shall offer the courts and the Parole Commission an alternative, community-based method to punish an offender in lieu of incarceration when the offender is a member of one of the following target groups:

(a)  Probation violators charged with technical violations or misdemeanor violations.

(b)  Parole violators charged with technical violations or misdemeanor violations.

(c)  Individuals found guilty of felonies, who, due to their criminal backgrounds or the seriousness of the offenses, would not be placed on regular probation.

(2)  An offender may not be placed in community control if:

(a)  Convicted of or adjudication withheld for a forcible felony as defined in s. 776.08, and

(b)  Previously convicted of or adjudication withheld for a forcible felony as defined in s. 776.08

Nothing in this subsection prohibits placement of certain inmates on community control pursuant to s. 947.1747 For the purposes of this subsection, a forcible felony does not include manslaughter or burglary.

(3)  The department shall commit not less than 10 percent of the parole and probation field staff and supporting resources to the operation of the community control program. Caseloads should be restricted to a maximum of 25 cases per officer in order to ensure an adequate level of staffing. Community control is an individualized program in which the offender is restricted to noninstitutional quarters or restricted to his or her own residence subject to an authorized level of limited freedom.

(4)  The department shall develop and implement procedures to diagnose offenders during the prison intake process in order to recommend to the sentencing courts, during the period of retained jurisdiction, suitable candidates for placement in a program of community control.

(5)  The Department of Corrections shall develop, or shall contract for the development of, an implementation manual, a resource directory, and training programs for implementing community control programs.

(a)1.  The community control implementation manual shall include, but shall not be limited to, an explanation of the types of offenders who should be placed in community control programs, procedures for diagnosing offenders, objectives and goals of such placements, examples of alternative placements based upon the experience of other states, and instruction in developing an individualized program for each offender.

2.  An offender's individualized program shall include diagnosis of treatment needs in the areas of education, substance abuse, and mental health, as well as community sanction provisions, restitution and community service provisions, rehabilitation objectives and programs, and a schedule for periodic review and reevaluation of such individualized programs. Individualized programs for offenders who committed controlled substance violations shall include provision for the conduct of random substance abuse testing intermittently throughout the term of supervision, upon the direction of the correctional probation officer as defined in s. 943.10(3).

(b)  The community control resource directory shall include, but shall not be limited to, for each circuit in the state, an identification and description of community resources that are available for the implementation of community control programs, which resources include the following:

1.  The name, address, phone, county location, capacity, and cost.

2.  Client eligibility and characteristics which prohibit acceptance.

3.  The objectives of the program.

4.  The primary source of referrals.

5.  The average length of stay.

6.  The services offered.

(c)  Training programs shall be provided for correctional field staff, local offender advisory councils, and others responsible for the implementation of community control programs.

(6)  The Florida Court Education Council and the office of the State Courts Administrator shall coordinate the development and implementation of a reference manual, directory, and training programs for judges in relation to community control disposition.

(7)  Upon written request, when an offender is placed on community control, the department shall notify:

(a)  The original arresting law enforcement agency.

(b)  The sheriff or chief law enforcement officer of the county in which the offender is to be placed.

(c)  The chief officer of any local law enforcement agency within whose jurisdiction the offender is to be placed.

(d)  The victim of the offense, the victim's parent or guardian if the victim is a minor, the lawful representative of the victim or the victim's parent or guardian if the victim is a minor, or the next of kin if the victim is a homicide victim.

Such notification shall include the name and street address of the offender, the length of supervision, and the nature of the offense. Update notification must be provided with respect to violation of the terms or conditions of the placement.

(8)  If an offender is sentenced to community control by the court and the offender is ineligible to be placed on community control as provided in subsection (2), the department shall:

(a)  Review and verify whether an ineligible offender was placed on community control.

(b)  Within 30 days after receipt of the order, notify the sentencing judge, the state attorney, and the Attorney General that the offender was ineligible for placement on community control.

(c)  Provide a quarterly report to the chief judge and the state attorney of each circuit citing the number of ineligible offenders placed on community control within that circuit.

(d)  Provide an annual report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on the placement of ineligible offenders on community control in order to assist in preparing judicial education programs or for any other purpose.

(9)  Procedures governing violations of community control shall be the same as those described in s. 948.06 with respect to probation.

(10)  Upon completion of the sanctions imposed in the community control plan before the expiration of the term ordered by the court, the department may petition the court to discharge the offender from community control supervision or to return the offender to a program of regular probation supervision. In considering the petition, the court should recognize the limited staff resources committed to the community control program, the purpose of the program, and the offender's successful compliance with the conditions set forth in the order of the court.

(11)  The Department of Corrections shall:

(a)  Develop and maintain a weighted statewide caseload equalization strategy designed to ensure that high-risk offenders receive the highest level of supervision; and

(b)  Develop and implement a supervision risk assessment instrument for the community control population which is similar to the probation risk assessment instrument established by the National Institute of Justice.

(12)  In its annual report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives under s. 20.315(5), the department shall include a detailed analysis of the community control program and the department's specific efforts to protect the public from offenders placed on community control. The analysis must include, but need not be limited to, specific information on the department's ability to meet minimum officer-to-offender contact standards, the number of crimes committed by offenders on community control, and the level of community supervision provided.

History.--ss. 12, 13, 21, ch. 83-131; s. 77, ch. 85-62; s. 4, ch. 87-211; ss. 62, 69, ch. 88-122; s. 18, ch. 90-337; s. 15, ch. 91-225; ss. 1, 16, ch. 91-280; s. 14, ch. 93-227; s. 1690, ch. 97-102; s. 6, ch. 97-239; s. 6, ch. 2001-209; s. 3, ch. 2003-142; ss. 3, 6, 7, 30, ch. 2004-373.

Note.--Subsection (2) former s. 948.01(10); subsection (9) former s. 948.01(9); subsection (10) former s. 948.01(5).