FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – Flagler County has reduced its nightly jail population by almost one-third, said Chief Daniel Engert, chief of court and detention services.
“Close to 2023 and 2024, we were averaging around 284 [inmates per night],” Engert said. “And over the last several months, we are down in the 210 to 208 range.”
Engert credits the change he and Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly brought to the jail over the last several years.
“We’ve really changed the culture of the jail from a simple warehousing of individuals to really actively providing opportunities for them to improve themselves,” Engert said. “Our motto is: Improve inmate outcomes, improve our community.”
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According to Staly, 80% of all inmates entering the Flagler County Jail are suffering from addiction and/or mental health issues.
When Engert took over the jail in 2020, Staly tasked Engert with addressing both issues inside the jail for the first time ever.
Engert began by creating separate housing units for both men and women struggling with mental health and/or addiction.
The pods, called S.M.A.R.T. – Successful Mental Health Addiction Recovery Treatment – are isolated from the general population and allow inmates in similar situations to live together and recover together 24 hours a day.
For 12 weeks, they spend every day with each other and their counselors and peer specialists.
Those who do not want to participate are ejected from the program, but most realize the opportunity they’d been given and end up asking for a second chance, Engert said.
Since 2022, 174 inmates have graduated from the SMART program and were released from jail.
Only 31% of them reoffended. But Engert said that number vastly outpaces the national average of 75% to 80% reoffense rate for inmates struggling with mental health and/or addiction.
“I believe this [SMART] has had a real big impact on our recidivism rates,” Engert said. “And reducing our population, period.”
Engert said a University of North Florida research team analyzed the SMART program and found similar results.
“They found that they [SMART graduates] are 18% less likely to be arrest, that’s rearrested for any charge,” Engert said. “And 51% less likely to be a re-arrested on a new charge, for something new.”
Engert said that means inmates who complete the SMART program are roughly twice as likely to succeed on the street once they’re released, compared to the national average.
But Engert didn’t stop there.
He added an electrician training program taught by a SMART graduate - who happened to be a licensed electrician.
He partnered with Beach Front Grille owner Jamie Bourdeau to bring a 5-star chef into the jail and teach inmates how to cook in a commercial kitchen.
Inmates who complete the cooking program graduate with a Servsafe Food Service Manager’s certificate which is extremely valuable. State law requires at least one person with that certificate in any kitchen at all times.
And several of the grads were hired and housed by Bourdeau upon their release from jail.
“And we’ve had inmates graduate from the HVAC program and then enroll in the apprenticeship program,” Engert said. “It improves our community.”
Engert said he is also saving taxpayer dollars at the Flagler County jail.
Two years ago Engert was given approval to hire a medical management company to provide negotiated rates for inmates’ medical care and review billing costs for accuracy.
Before that, no one was reviewing medical costs.
Engert said for a second year in a row the company has saved Flagler County more than $1 million.