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Reentry on the Road: Florida’s Approach to Community Corrections · Real State

• 0:00
  It's helped them stay out of jail for 60, 90 days at a time at a rate of anywhere from 60 to $100 plus a day.
• 0:06
  So it's really helping our taxpayers out and having our people remain in the community where they can continue to be productive members of the communities that we live in.
• 0:15
  This is Real State, a podcast from CSG South.
• 0:21
  Join us as we talk with policymakers and public leaders shaping state-level decisions across the South.
• 0:28
  And explore how ideas move from policy to real impact.
• 0:33
  Hello, welcome to Real State. I'm your host, Lindsey Gray.
• 0:42
  Across the South, state governments are constantly looking for ways to make public service more effective, not simply by creating new programs,
• 0:51
  but sometimes by rethinking how and where existing services are delivered. Florida has taken that idea quite literally.
• 1:00
  Beginning with mobile probation services and later expanding the model to reentry, the Florida Department of Corrections has taken services traditionally delivered from a government office and brought them directly into communities.
• 1:14
  The goal is straightforward, reduce barriers to successful supervision, improve access to reentry services, reduce technical violations, and ultimately strengthen public safety.
• 1:28
  That approach earned the Florida Department of Corrections, the 2026 State Transformation in Action Recognition or STARA award at the Southern Legislative Conference this past July in Lexington, Kentucky.
• 1:42
  Joining us today is Joe Winkler, Assistant Secretary of Community Corrections for the Florida Department of Corrections.
• 1:50
  Joe has more than 25 years of experience and corrections, beginning his career as a correctional probation officer and serving in numerous leadership positions throughout community corrections.
• 2:03
  Joe, congratulations again on the STARA award and thank you for joining us today.
• 2:08
  Thank you and thank you for having me. Joe, before we get to the mobile reentry units, I think it's important to understand where this idea started.
• 2:17
  Florida's first mobile probation unit grew out of a very practical problem in Palm Beach County.
• 2:24
  Too many individuals were returning to jail for technical probation violations, including failure to report.
• 2:31
  At the same time, transportation and distance from probation offices were making compliance difficult for so many of the people you were supervising.
• 2:41
  So take us back to the beginning, what was happening in Palm Beach County that made FDC realize the traditional model wasn't working for everyone.
• 2:50
  Okay, and I'll take you back in time to 2018 because in 2018, we had some key community partners meet that was the Florida Department of Corrections, the MacArthur Foundation, in the Palm Beach County Commission.
• 3:02
  And they looked at kind of what you were talking about before looking at the jail overcrowding in the Palm Beach County jail.
• 3:08
  They looked at some specific reasons and what they determined through probation was that there was Joe overcrowding taking place for a lot of violation of probation, more specifically violations of probation, fulfilling the report to the probation office.
• 3:22
  And they looked at the why behind that. One of the reasons was is Palm Beach County is a big county 24 hundred square miles, transportation, distance, work schedules.
• 3:33
  They created barriers for people to report to the probation office. Some failures to report weren't connected to somebody wanting to do it.
• 3:41
  It wasn't delivered on violence. It was just they didn't have access to get to the probation office accountability remained unchanged, but the delivery model needed to improve.
• 3:51
  So the concept, the mobile probation unit at that point involved in 2018.
• 3:57
  Well, the idea grew from a practical conversation as I said a minute ago to talk about some of the jail over crowding.
• 4:14
  If transportation and distance weren't preventing or preventing people from reporting, treating a probation office like a fixed office was not acceptable way to provide supervision or probation officers are already out in the community to provide that mobile probation unit to go out in the community was a big win for us.
• 4:33
  A lot of people think that having a brick and mortar building for probation office is a requirement, but we learn pretty quickly when we started to roll these mobile probation units out the brick and mortar really wasn't the 100% answer being mobile to support our population was a good win big win for us and provided a lot of services we didn't know we can provide.
• 4:54
  And how did you gather that data just anecdotal meetings or seeing kind of once you they go reentry that you say why what happened and they just for telling you was there a survey what what how did you gather that information or just years of knowledge and.
• 5:11
  Well, it was more of the conversations we were having and once again going back and looking at the problem of the jail over crowding thinking about some ways that we can resolve the jail over crowding eliminate some of the barriers that people that were on supervision faced that's why I would evolved and we thought that you know what we bring the services out the community make it to where people don't have to travel 30 miles to get the probation office take off time from work have some have to pay transportation to get in have to pay gas to get in do something and there are local.
• 5:40
  There's something in their local area to make it easier for them would help solve some of the problems and as you'll find out some of the conversation it really did solve some of the problems great so what began as a response to a local challenge ultimately became something you know much larger so Florida's original mobile probation units focused heavily on supervision and reporting then in 2025.
• 6:04
  We expanded that concept with mobile reentry units to deliver a much broader range of services directly into the community so what did you learn from those first mobile probation units that convinced you the model could and should go beyond simply helping people meet their reporting requirements.
• 6:24
  Well what I didn't mention earlier is that when we started this process in 2018 being that it was a novel concept that took a long time to really roll out our first mobile probation unit that wasn't until January of 2023 that we wrote out that first probation unit that took us about four to half years to kind of cut through the red tape and learn some the product learn some of the ways to develop a process behind the mobile probation unit.
• 6:49
  During the same time we were having the problems in the Palm Beach County jail we were having the same problems in the Sarasota County jail with overcrowding with a similar meeting with local stakeholders there along the baranzic foundation and they were working through the concept of mobile probation unit in Sarasota County as well so surely actually wrote out the first one in Palm Beach County we wrote out the second one Sarasota County.
• 7:13
  When we did this we started thinking about probation probation officers now people don't really know what probation officers do what serves as a provided the community and we started thinking about other novel approaches that we use in the state of Florida we wanted to educate internal and external stakeholders on what we do so we went around the state and we did a presentation that we called the innovations in community supervision and we talked about some of our special teams that we have been in probation.
• 7:42
  We talked about our bike team we talked about some of our reentry initiatives along with the mobile probation unit in the first place we went to was at Wacula correction institution just outside of Tallahassee had a really big group there about 200 220 external and internal stakeholders when we got through with the presentation I had a lady approached me her name was Erica Aviron she was the executive director from the from the Florida foundation for correction excellence and she said Joanne was the first person to be in the state of Florida.
• 8:11
  She said Joe we really liked your program what can we do to help support what you're doing I said Erica do you see those two mobile probation that's out the parking lot and she acknowledged that she did and I said I like to have one of those on steroids by midnight that was not something that was bigger something that would provide more services the original buses we had provide strictly probation services they had a place for people to report to we really wanted to open it up to we can provide treatment evaluations treatment programs life skills.
• 8:40
  I explained a little bit more of the concept of her a couple times I met with her in the board of directors and totally wanted to do a mobile reentry unit for our next one.
• 8:51
  Sure enough they were able to help support and fund that project and the reason we know we wanted those reentry services because some of the experience we learned through the mobile mobile probation units and some of the limitations we had we couldn't 100% provide some of the services that we want to provide.
• 9:08
  The mobile reentry units now provide treatment evaluations life skills programs as you mentioned employment resources connections to mental health and substance use treatment and other support services and on several of our southern states have taken on reentry in a large way in the last several years and this is certainly innovative way to do all of that so that's wonderful so walk us through what actually happens when one of these units arrives in a community what can someone accomplish they have been in the state of the state.
• 9:37
  And then someone accomplish there that would otherwise require several appointments or trips.
• 9:42
  Yeah really good question that the first what we do is we make sure that the population that we serve knows where the buses are going to be at we have a QR code in the lobbies that are probation offices and we let the population know where the buses will be and what day and what time they'll be out there.
• 9:58
  When they go out to report anybody that's on supervision can go report to the mobile probation or mobile reentry units it's essentially a probation office on wheels a lot of times I describe it kind of what you would see with a blood mobile that when you pull up and you want to report we have an oning the pulls out the mobile probation units are neat that oning we have chairs and tables we have forms that you would fill out in the probation office so the outside is covered but it's just like the lobby of a probation office then when probation officers want to use the police.
• 10:27
  And then officers want to see the people on the bus on the buses we have three different stations for people to come report to and they can perform any mission critical activity in these officer stations.
• 10:39
  What I mean by that is if we want to transfer somebody's supervision we can do that we want to place on electronic monitor we can do that we want to enforce any conditions of supervision.
• 10:49
  We can do that as well if we want to do a drug test we can do it we can't do the conventional drug test to your analysis but we can do it through what we have is what we call an oral swap if somebody tests positive then at that point we'll talk to them if they don't want to admit any kind of drug usage and at that point we'll have a report to the probation office and provide a specimen to the sense of the laboratory.
• 11:10
  Also we have employment specialist at our mobile probation units in our mobile reentry units that talk to people that are unemployed and helps provide support to them to help support the unemployment and hopefully find some gainful employment so at these mobile probation units and mobile reentry units we still enforce the conditions of supervision but we also continue to provide services to help our people become more successful in the community.
• 11:34
  That's amazing so you really do reduce all the barriers not only for the person going to the reentry the mobile reentry unit but also for those that are working it to ensure that they can do their job properly and efficiently that's awesome.
• 11:48
  So how did you decide where to deploy a mobile reentry unit and which services are most important in a particular community i'm sure there's a lot of logistics behind this.
• 11:58
  Yeah once again another really good question the way we've rolled our mobile probation or reentry units out is based on where foundations can support it but i mean by that is we haven't went through any standard legislative budget request process to request funding for our mobile probation units.
• 12:15
  The reason we haven't done that we don't want to take away from our probation officers and some of the resources they have if we were to get funding for the buses and at that point it may take away from the vehicles they are to use in the community so we wanted to go a little bit more unconventional reach out to foundations people that had some interest in probation and success of people that are on supervision.
• 12:35
  And each one of the probation units in the reentry units that we've got are based on foundations that have provided that support to us a lot of times we talk through it with them and they did help us decide where those areas are going to be once again with Palm Beach County in Sarasota County.
• 12:50
  It was decided because of the jail overcrowding our third bus that we rolled out the mobile reentry unit that I talked about we looked at the other we looked at a little bit further up in the state and didn't they they tone area.
• 13:02
  The reason we went there is because we have some of the same issues we have down south with some of the jail overcrowding a lot of technical violations for failing to report we also it's another area that can potentially get hit with the hurricane.
• 13:15
  If we have a hurricane move through then at that point we want to stand a an office up pretty quickly we've got the mobile probation or mobile reentry unit there so if you some of that and you know with our urban our rural areas a lot of people think that we use it just in the rural areas.
• 13:30
  We don't we use in the urban areas too because we know that there's a need in each of those areas and ideally if I had a crystal ball I would like to look in that crystal ball and say that we would have 20 or 30 mobile probation units mobile reach for units out in the in the future that we did that and we can satisfy any the needs that we have to our population along with the services now the services are a little bit different.
• 13:53
  We have a lot of people out there that are willing to help our population out in those services are pretty consistent throughout the state whether it's providing employment opportunities treatment opportunities we have those and we do try to work closely with our community stakeholders to help provide some of those resources to our fender population.
• 14:12
  It's amazing I didn't even think about the emergency management part of it the hurricanes that hit Florida and obviously several of our southern state still with.
• 14:22
  Hurricanes and tornadoes and all of the things that come with living in those coastal communities and so it is fascinating and what a great solution to for those really intense times to still continue to provide the services needed.
• 14:37
  So one thing we like to explore here on real state is what happens between having a good idea and actually making it work within state government.
• 14:46
  So a program like this touches you know agency policy potentially some state resources local government community providers law enforcement and several branches of government along the way.
• 15:00
  So I would love to kind of dive into that what had to happen from a state policy or an administrative standpoint to make this possible and what authority did FDC already have and where did you need additional support or flexible.
• 15:15
  Yeah, once again another really good question if I could go back to the last one something that was pretty pretty key that you the elaborated on that we recently had a fire and two of our probation offices down south are Hudson a new poor rich office that were side by side and with that fire it displaced our probation officers there.
• 15:34
  But having mobile probation units allowed us to stage mobile probation units outside and so when people reported the probation office they they knew there was an issue there but they were still report through the use of the mobile.
• 15:44
  Probation unit so it's service in a lot of different capacities and reference your question about the some of the changes we made really with us the Florida Department of corrections already had the authority and responsibility to supervise those individuals in the community.
• 16:01
  Whether it's conducting enforcement activities providing those resources what changes our fundamental authority not what didn't change is our fundamental authority but how we exercise it.
• 16:13
  As it affected probation services didn't always have to be delivered in that traditional probation office making the model operational required what we require from the department first of all make sure it was safe for our officers want safety comes first when it comes to our probation officers but once again just provide in a service that nobody else provides and we've learned that it's really been a big deal for us and then the community engage and we've had on that as well.
• 16:38
  I've never heard anybody say anything negative about our mobile probation units and having that support is really helps support us taking these to the community.
• 16:48
  That's awesome partnerships are fundamental as you've mentioned to programs like this is so you you talked about the Florida Foundation for correctional excellence before and I'm sure you have several treatment providers in community organizations obviously law enforcement and local government involved so.
• 17:07
  With these partnerships how has that all helped turn what FDC could do a could do alone but is something more into something more comprehensive well oftentimes I say it takes a village to raise a child and I said earlier that we've got a lot of people that we supervise we have 150,000 people that we supervise in the community are success rate hovers around 64 65%
• 17:34
  the people that successfully complete supervision about 91% don't come back to the department of corrections whether it's on probation or institution within a three year period and we know it isn't just what our probation officers do it's because of the use of our community stakeholders they help provide some fundamental services for partnerships transform these units from mobile probation offices into comprehensive community resources FDC or the Florida Department of Corrections provide supervision and accountability.
• 18:03
  Local governments help identify some of the community needs that we have in the locations where these units can generate generate and operate safely law enforcement partners partners contribute to local knowledge and support safe operations.
• 18:19
  Treatment providers bring substance abuse mental health anger management services closer to the community and our community organizations also help assist with housing and employment oftentimes we work with some of our key employment people in the field that help them provide some of the employment services but the biggest thing and we've talked about a little bit already is just the use of the foundations foundations it helps support these initiatives I mentioned the Florida Foundation for correctional excellence the forensic foundation.
• 18:48
  The MacArthur Foundation we also have a foundation in our what we call circuit by very that supervises six counties over there right right in the middle of the state and from that we've got another foundation which is our first step foundation does help provide a lot of services as well if it wasn't for stakeholders the success that we have not just with the mobile probation units with the people we supervise would not be there so partnerships are critical to everybody's success and makes safer communities.
• 19:17
  And I think those stats that you mentioned are extremely important and not something that may be the average citizen or maybe even some of our legislators realize how impactful these programs are and reducing some of those return rates so bringing services closer to individuals does not mean reducing accountability and I think that you're showing that with your outcome so how many in many ways the premise of this program seems to be that removing practical barriers and
• 19:46
  practical barriers can actually make supervision more effective so how do you think about that balance maintaining accountability and the conditions of supervision while also recognizing that transportation employment treatment access and other you know practical barriers can affect someone's ability to comply.
• 20:05
  Yeah once again a really good question and I go back when I talk to the new recruit classes that are becoming probation officers I often ask them to write something down on the piece of paper of what probation officers do and they they'll write things on the paper piece of paper I'll look at them and the answer is pretty much always the same and a probation officer is out there to protect the public where the answer is a little more complicated is how we protect the public but people don't know is that the big thing that we do is we monitor
• 20:34
  the legal force conditions of supervision what we do is when we people come in will monitor that if they aren't compliance them report that willful non compliance either sentence or release an authority but the other aspect that we do and the other end of the spectrum is we provide a lot of resources to help our people out that we supervise and I tell our people a lot if you want to be an effective probation officer you have to balance both those you got a monitor in a forced condition of supervision while at the same time providing resources to help people come more
• 21:03
  successful if they do that they're going to do the real things that probation officers do and that is impact the lives of others. Yeah and that's actually exactly what I was thinking while you were we're sharing that was just how many lives you all are positively impacting as long as they wanted and they do the work that y'all are there to help kind of carry them through that time but it really is up to the person that individual to do the work so
• 21:31
  from the perspectives someone who has spent more than 25 years in community corrections how has the philosophy around successful supervision and reentry evolved during your career reentry 25 years ago when I think about reentry it was larger larger uses a noun it was a place it was a program or a point in time someone let prison they return to the community we call that reentry our role in community corrections was all
• 21:59
  often viewed primarily as the lens of supervision to enforce conditions make sure people report a light they were supposed to today I believe reentry is become more of a verb is something that we do actively successful reentry doesn't begin when someone walked out of the prison gate doesn't in when they complete supervision it's an ongoing process to identify barriers connect people with the rights resources you
• 22:23
  revolutions all we also change what successful supervision looks like the probation officer of the day they still do the enforcement side of it but their rules much broader they provide those resources their problem solvers their connectors their coaches and their change
• 22:39
  changes so I look at how far community corrections has come during my career I think the biggest thing is the philosophical change reentry used to describe something that happened to an individual today reentry describes something we actively make happen.
• 22:54
  I love that of course innovation in state government ultimately has to reduce results so the data submitted as part of Florida store award applications showed a 27% reduction in technical violations in jurisdictions using the program so Sarah soda and Palm Beach counties that have been mentioned so 27% is a significant number so what do you believe is driving that reduction reducing barriers.
• 23:20
  In proven that physical access to reporting bringing that probation office to the community where people live that where they work at is been critical also the earlier identification and emerging problems as I've talked to some of the officers that work on the mobile probation units they feel like the people are a little bit more open on the mobile probation units than they are in a brick and mortar office I don't have any proof of that but talking to the probation officers they feel that they can easily identify.
• 23:49
  Some of the things that may come up that they can help a probation or somebody that's on supervision overcome before it gets to be a major problem they help with that media problem solving they have direct connections with the community partners if we have community partners that are working alongside us in these mobile probation units it helps reduce some of these violations as well it also provides a more consistent engagement between the officers and the individuals under supervision by reducing the number of barriers that would potentially be a lot more important.
• 24:18
  That would potentially escalate into more severe violations.
• 24:22
  And you've got to use the quantitative and qualitative data to measure all the things so I appreciate that you are getting the narratives and stories too and not just the numbers behind the impacts that you are making.
• 24:35
  So beyond technical violations what other outcomes are you measuring to determine whether this program is successful and has anything you know any any parts of the data surprised you.
• 24:46
  Yeah well we've sent some surveys out there's also been some reports that have been written by our mobile probation units and as you said there's some quantitative data out there that helps support it.
• 24:56
  The data that you get from the surveys and just talking to people or the information you get from them is pretty relevant and oftentimes you cannot measure prevention.
• 25:06
  So we're talking about the number of people that we've served anywhere from 18 to 20,000 people that we've served on the mobile probation units and if we were to take just a small portion of those individuals and say you know what normally they didn't have the mobile probation unit they would have a violation if we're not reporting to the probation office because they wouldn't have the means to do it.
• 25:23
  That violation may escalate and may escalate into absconding because once they don't report at that point they they wanted to have their whereabouts unknown.
• 25:31
  And if we took just a small portion say we took 3000 those individuals and looked at those people and and they were placed in incarceration and placed in jail for violation of probation hearing a violation of probation hearing to get to one in the state of Florida.
• 25:45
  It takes anywhere from 60 to 90 days on average to go to that violation of probation hearing and all that time that person is sitting in jail to per dem rates throughout the state.
• 25:56
  Very from jail to jail during the where from 60 dollars to over $100 per day for people to be incarcerated.
• 26:03
  If we factor all that in and multiply all that up the cost savings of that is significant.
• 26:09
  I wish I had concrete numbers on that but you can't measure prevention but I do know that it is helping people stay out of jail.
• 26:16
  It's helping them stay out of jail for 60 90 days at a time at a rate of anywhere from 60 to $100 plus a day.
• 26:23
  It's really helping our taxpayers out and having our people remain in the community where they can continue to be productive members of the communities that we live in.
• 26:32
  That's great. So results are one layer of the equation state leaders like you also have to ask whether an innovative program can be sustained and expanded responsibly.
• 26:43
  When it vanishes you've identified in this model as the FDC can use existing personnel and bring services into communities without necessarily creating another permanent brick and mortar location.
• 26:55
  And of course the cost savings that you just discussed when you make the business case for a mobile reentry unit.
• 27:00
  How do its costs compare with the potential costs of technical violations, jail admissions, additional facilities or unsuccessful reentry?
• 27:10
  Yeah, similar to what I've said on the last answer that the mobile reentry or mobile probation unit.
• 27:16
  It does have some physical visible costs. The first one is the cost to vehicle itself in the upkeep with the department the only thing that we're having to pay for is the upkeep.
• 27:26
  However, the responsible comparison is not the cost that universe is doing nothing is the cost that unit compared to the downstream cost of preventable failure.
• 27:35
  Kind of like what I mentioned before with preventing the people from going to be incarcerated for a violation of probation hearing in the significant cost savings that it would that it would help there.
• 27:45
  The business case is also strongest when the units are to deploy strategically use consistently and supported by our community partners.
• 27:53
  We should examine the cost of the cost per person serve the reductions in the violations and the things that we avoid that can help once again make things safer in our communities and keep these people in our communities working and be a more productive.
• 28:07
  Thank you for expanding on that.
• 28:09
  What have you learned about where this model works best and what will determine whether Florida expands it further?
• 28:17
  Yeah, I would say that the model works best where there's a documented access in the gaps and what I mean by that if somebody doesn't have access to services for bringing their services to that mobile probation unit or mobile reentry unit.
• 28:31
  The thing is with people that are on probation, thirst gaps all over the place.
• 28:36
  So the buses would really work best anywhere that mentioned earlier rural areas, urban areas, it will work good because we can bring those services directly to those buses.
• 28:48
  And the rural communities may benefit because the long travel distance and some of the limited services with the urban communities may benefit or traffic transportation routes or concentrated need may make traditional office just difficult difficult to get to.
• 29:04
  So the deciding factor really isn't whether in areas urban or rural to question is whether the mobility serves the solves the document at problem in our situation we feel like it has.
• 29:14
  And I think that makes a lot of sense to a lot of folks that are rural or urban.
• 29:20
  And that's particularly relevant, you know, hearing kind of all of the things about it because one of the things that we look at with the star award is it simply about recognizing is a successful program.
• 29:32
  But one of our major criteria is transfer ability, whether another state can learn from it.
• 29:37
  So Florida's model has already attracted attention beyond just the state of Florida.
• 29:42
  And the basic concept is remarkably simple bring government services closer to the people who need access to them.
• 29:48
  So if another state corrections department called you tomorrow, and I'm sure you've gotten these phone calls before, and said what?
• 29:56
  And said we want to do this. What are the first two or three things you would tell them they need to get right.
• 30:04
  Yeah, this is a real live example because we've had many states call as you mentioned we've had many states that have come and visited the state of Florida to see our mobile probation units and mobile reentry units.
• 30:14
  We've also taken a mobile probation unit to New York City for the American probation and parole conference.
• 30:21
  And sitting out on the streets of Times Square, it wasn't just probation people that came by and sought.
• 30:26
  There was people that were walking by. They couldn't believe that probation provided this kind of service.
• 30:31
  We also took one to Nashville Tennessee for the American Correctional Association conference.
• 30:36
  We sat it right there on the showroom floor where people would come in and see it.
• 30:39
  A lot of questions were asked about that. So to a state that would ask that question, I would first say first define the problem before they purchase it.
• 30:48
  We identified the problem early on with us with a jail over crowding. We've had a lot of unintended positive consequences that came from about from that.
• 30:56
  But identifying the problem is the first thing I would do.
• 30:59
  The second thing I would probably do is talk to staff and had them understand the concept behind the mobile probation or mobile reentry units.
• 31:08
  We thought that we would have some struggles with some of our staff not providing the service in the community.
• 31:13
  So we had a lot of talks with our staff to engage them to let them know the why behind what we were about to do.
• 31:20
  And I would probably recommend that to other states to have the probation officers have to understand the concept of why that probation unit is going to be deployed to the community.
• 31:30
  And the third thing I would establish partnerships and performance measures before launching.
• 31:34
  I would talk I would sit down and engage community stakeholders ask them what support services they can provide and let them know these mobile probation units.
• 31:42
  They're the real they're a real deal. They're going to see a lot of improvement. You're going to see a lot of engagement.
• 31:47
  But having those community stakeholders as I said earlier are critical for the success of the mobile probation units.
• 31:52
  Without them we would we wouldn't be near successful as we are.
• 31:56
  So I would say first define the problem.
• 31:58
  Second have your probation officers understand the concept.
• 32:01
  And third reaching out community stakeholders and helping them having them help you solve the problem that you have.
• 32:07
  So practical. Thank you. That's great.
• 32:10
  I know that a large portion of your career 25 years has been dedicated to corrections.
• 32:17
  But looking beyond corrections do you think that there's a broader lesson here for state government about taking services into communities rather than always expecting citizens to navigate.
• 32:27
  You know their way of government.
• 32:29
  Yeah, I think so you know I read an article I read the article a couple times about some mobile probation units.
• 32:35
  I recently wrote out in the state of California. It wasn't pro for probation services, but it was for government services.
• 32:42
  And also after we received the Star Award. I had somebody come up to me and tell us that they work for a government agency where they had something similar to a mobile probation unit as well.
• 32:53
  So when you ask me the question, I say absolutely government offers design services around agencies or offices or processes and our schedules.
• 33:01
  While citizens experience their needs across several systems at the same time.
• 33:05
  So someone may be dealing with employment transportation, healthcare identification. Some other needs that just aren't provided through probation services that could be remedied by having some kind of services in the community, such as a mobile probation service for other government agencies as well.
• 33:22
  It's wonderful that you got that immediate feedback while at SLC that this is a concept that they're exploring in other state agencies. So that's wonderful.
• 33:31
  So before we close, I'd like to end with a question that we ask all of our guests.
• 33:37
  What is the best piece of professional advice you've ever received and how does it shape the way you approach leadership today?
• 33:44
  The best professional advice? Well, instead of doing advice, let me go with something that I've learned with dealing with a lot of leaders at my level.
• 33:52
  And I've learned through my career that when I see poor agencies out there, ones that underperform, one of the reasons they underperform is because they make answers based on what happened yesterday.
• 34:04
  And I look around and look at agencies that are performing status quo. I look at some of the reasons they're doing that and they're making decisions based on what happens today.
• 34:13
  Then I look at agencies that are great. And I like to say that the Florida Department of Corrections is a great agency. And one of the reasons we're great is we're making decisions based on things are going to happen tomorrow.
• 34:24
  We wrote out our mobile probation units, our mobile reentry units. We weren't looking at yesterday or today. We were looking at services that we can provide tomorrow and for many years to come.
• 34:33
  So I would say just that that for any good leader out there, if you want to be successful and you want to be a pioneer, make decisions based on what's going to happen tomorrow.
• 34:43
  Yeah, you got to have your finger on the pulse and that vision in order to stay up with the times, especially with how fast things are moving these days.
• 34:52
  Joe, congratulations again to you and the entire Florida Department of Corrections team on receiving the 2026 Star award. More importantly, thank you for sharing the story behind the mobile reentry units and how a relatively simple idea meeting people where they are can change the way government delivers services and measures success.
• 35:13
  And as we've heard today, it is started as a simple idea and has absolutely expanded into many amazing results and layers of really great decisions and some complexities with logistics and such, but you all are doing such a wonderful job in Florida.
• 35:30
  And I just congratulate you all again and a lot of people are learning from you.
• 35:34
  Well, I want to say thank you to Lindsey. You know, it was the first time that Florida has won a star award. I didn't know that until we got there and it was a pretty stressful situation.
• 35:44
  Being in the is sending their doing the presentation with 14 people staring right down right right at you, but I really do appreciate the process.
• 35:52
  We appreciate the recognition and you are going to hear more things from state of Florida in the very near future. Thank you.
• 35:59
  Well, we're excited to have you at the table anytime. So we will not be strangers at all as we move forward.
• 36:09
  And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to real state to learn more about Florida's mobile reentry units, the Star Award and other innovative programs across our 15 Southern states, visit csg south dot work. I'm Lindsey Gray. Let's keep it real.
• 36:26
  Thank you for joining us today on real states where we keep it real about what really matters.
• 36:33
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