Okaloosa County Celebrates National Correctional Officers’ Appreciation Week May 6-10
Sunday, May 5, 2024
This week the Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners along with the Okaloosa County Department of Corrections and departments nationwide will celebrate National Correctional Officers Week.
Former President Ronald Reagan established this week on May 5, 1984, when saw the need to create a week for correctional officers to thank them for their services and celebrate their contributions to society. President Reagan stated the duties of these officers have become increasingly complex and demanding. They are called upon to fill simultaneously: custodial, supervisory, and counseling roles. The professionalism, dedication and courage exhibited by these officers throughout the performance of these demanding and often conflicting roles deserve our utmost respect.
During this week, various U.S. agencies honor correctional officers in our jails, prisons, and community correctional facilities by organizing different programs for them.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, there is over 1.9 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 142 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories.
In the state of Florida, there is 143 facilities statewide, including 50 correctional institutions, seven private partner facilities, 16 annexes, 33 work camps, three re-entry centers, 12 FDC operated work release centers, 18 private work release centers, two road prisons, one forestry camp and one basic training camp. The State of Florida employs more than 24,000 staff to oversee the 80,000 inmates incarcerated and nearly 146,000 offenders on active community supervision.
As of 5pm, Sunday evening, there was 727 individuals incarcerated under the care, custody and control of the men and women at the Okaloosa County Department of Corrections located in Crestview. With approximately 110 correctional officers, and roughly 14 officers on duty at any given time, that equates to 50 inmates per officer. That number alone deserves our respect for the job most of us don’t want to do.
The Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners, which oversees the Okaloosa County Department of Corrections, has invited food trucks from far and wide to the jail this Thursday and Friday to serve the staff and local community to show appreciation to the dedicated hard-working women and men of the county jail.
If you would like to show your appreciation for these correctional professionals, you can sponsor a meal, prize, gift bag, etc., during this appreciation week by contacting Sgt. Nikki Hatten by email at nhatten@myokaloosa.com.
If you would like to know more information about the Okaloosa County Department of Corrections and / or if you think you have what it takes to be a correctional officer and want to be employed by the Okaloosa County jail you can visit their website, Okaloosa County Department of Corrections or contact Sgt. Niki Hatten or Lt. Andrea Oliver at (850) 689-5690.