Meet the Facility
Facility Name: Escambia County Corrections Department
Website: www.myescambia.com Location: Pensacola, Florida Year Built/Opened: Current facilities: 2020/1981/1970 Average Daily Population: 1491
Warden/Director: Chief of Corrections, Wm. Rich Powell Commanders: Charles Snow and G. Scott Nash Community Correctional Manager: Rita Spencer Operating Budget: $73.6 M
Number of Volunteers: 180 registered volunteers Point of Contact: Chief of Corrections aide, Melissa Snow, mmsnow@myescambia.com Method/Style of Inmate Supervision: Indirect Podular, Direct Supervision and Work Annex
The secure in-custody confinement for those under the scrutiny of law occurred before the county’s inception, dating back to an era when Escambia County was identified as a territory in 1776. Corrections in Escambia County have operated under territorial control, as the city of Pensacola Jail, County Sheriff, and the County Administration since Escambia’s foundation in 1821. Currently, Escambia County Corrections Department (ECCD) encompasses three major housing units, the new facility which opened in June 2021, the phase I & II facility, which opened in 1981, Work Annex formerly known as the Escambia Road Prison, which opened in 1970, and a Community Corrections division. In April 2014, ECCD suffered a natural gas explosion in the Central Booking and Detention Center. This catastrophic event caused total functionality failure, with both the loss of life and a major operational impact.
Since the explosion, a new facility was designed and constructed with the intent to bring both relief to the operational strain and optimize correctional practices. Within ECCD, it operates a County Work Annex with an average of 200 inmates that provides labor and services throughout our county. This labor force brings financial relief to the citizens, creating a better community environment and providing the inmate population an opportunity to work and provide for the community in which they reside.
“The new facility design presents many positive opportunities through our daily interactions with the inmate population, subsequently reducing many of the common operational incidents.” Furthermore, Corrections Security Operations SGT J. Ellison continues “direct access to recreation area helps inmates process the stress of confinement and increases our staff’s knowledge of the situational factors affecting many of the inmates.”
"The opening of the new facility presented unique challenges that dealt with the design and activity schedules. However, these challenges were met by motivated personnel working together to create an efficient work environment.”–1st Lt. Halie Reid
“When the new Escambia County Main Jail opened, there was an increase in the operations aspect. The jail staff were extremely effective at handling the increase in operations due to the available knowledge and training, making it seem as if there was no increase in operations.”—1st Class Correctional Officer Cruz
Corrections Medical lead APRN Allison Burguess states: “Opening the new extension of our facility has allowed patients to improve both their mental and physical health. In each dorm, the patients have more personal space, cleaner living conditions, the ability to phone their family members more often, large windows that add natural light, and access to a recreation area. Each dorm has its own semi-outdoor activity space where they can play basketball, sit on the picnic tables, or walk around the space. This has helped greatly in achieving healthy physical exercise and we are seeing a trend of patients’ overall health improving; reduced blood pressures along with better diabetic control.”
Chief W. Rich Powell is extremely grateful for the new facility: “This new facility has closed the gap on the need for operational control and safely modernized the overall operation. The new facility combined with the remaining facilities allows for flexibility while maintaining custody and control. Like many jails nationally, Escambia Corrections continues to plan and forecast the needs of the future. The planning phase for the next tower is underway. The new jail allows our great staff to provide a safe and modern correctional operation while expanding the opportunities for medical needs, programming, and rehabilitation. All intending to reduce recidivism and return an improved individual to the community upon release.”