(1) Any county may establish a county work camp, which shall be maintained and operated by the county in accordance with the provisions of chapter 951.

(2) If a county wishes to contract for state construction funding of a county work camp through community corrections construction funds, the county may designate appropriate county-owned land for the site of the proposed facility. Any combination of two or more counties may develop a unified plan for a county work camp utilizing either individual contracts between participating counties and the department or an interlocal agreement between participating counties and a contract between the department and the county where the work camp is located. State-owned land may be used for the site if any is available and the state is amenable to its use for this purpose. The proposed plan for construction of a county work camp may include the option of having the facility constructed by the department through state inmate labor.

(3) The proposed county work camp plan shall include provision for the use of county work camp inmates for labor on projects within the county and provision for inmate classification, health services, basic education, basic substance abuse testing and treatment, and job or vocational training within the county work camp.

(4) Upon issuance of a certificate of compliance, the Department of Corrections shall submit the county work camp plan as a part of its legislative budget request.

(5) Upon completion of the county work camp facility, one-half of the total beds shall be designated for the housing of persons whose presumptive sentence exceeds 22 months of incarceration, provided that such persons are sentenced and committed to the custody of the county and receive a sentence of community-based sanctions pursuant to this act; provided further that such persons shall be transferred to the custody of the state in the event that a county no longer participates in such contract or if for any other reason the contract is terminated as provided in subsection (7). The remaining beds shall be reserved for offenders committed to the custody of the county. Only those offenders who commit a crime in the county where the county work camp facility is located may be committed by the circuit and county courts to such facility; however, any combination of two or more counties may contract with the department or may enter into an interlocal agreement for the placement of offenders into a county work camp. The state shall reimburse the county or counties for the total estimated operational costs for the county work camp based upon the estimated cost for operating a comparable state work camp.

(6) A county or counties contracting for community corrections assistance funds may utilize such funding within the county work camp for the provision of programs additional to those described in subsection (3).

(7) In the event any county entering into a contract with the Department of Corrections pursuant to this partnership act determines that it no longer desires to operate a work camp pursuant to this section, or if for any reason a county work camp contract is otherwise terminated, all property relating to such work camp, including all funds, buildings, land, furnishings, equipment, and other chattels subsequently purchased or otherwise acquired by the county in connection with its continued operation of that work camp, automatically reverts to full ownership by the department. At such time as the facility reverts to the department, in the event the county has made any capital improvements to the property or building, the state will reimburse the county for the improvements. Such a reversionary ownership interest of the state in any and all such after-acquired property by the county is in furtherance of the goals established in s. 948.51, and such a present ownership interest by the state is a continuing and insurable state interest.

(8) Pursuant to the applicable provisions of chapter 284, the Division of Risk Management of the Department of Financial Services is authorized to insure any county work camp facility established pursuant to this act under the same general terms and conditions as the Department of Corrections is insured by the division for any of its comparable work camps.

(9) The court shall consider the offender’s previous criminal history when sentencing a person to a county work camp in order to ensure the protection of the community. Unless otherwise indicated by the sentencing court, persons convicted of any of the following crimes shall not be housed in a county work camp: arson; sexual battery; robbery; kidnapping; aggravated child abuse; aggravated assault; murder; manslaughter; unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb; aggravated battery; or armed burglary.

History.—s. 7, ch. 91-225; s. 34, ch. 92-310; s. 5, ch. 94-265; s. 33, ch. 96-312; s. 30, ch. 97-94; s. 1938, ch. 2003-261.