Former Florida DCF spokesman Thomas Barnes sentenced for child porn

The former district spokesperson for the Department of Children and Families (yes, the same DCF that Sen. Lauren Book wants to train every law enforcement officer on Human Trafficking and that runs our State’s Civil Commitment Center) was sentenced to 2 years in prison. Thomas Barnes was reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by Yahoo, after

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Comprehensive ‘Florida First Step Act’ Excludes Registrants

Sen. Jeff Brandes is spearheading the state’s criminal justice reform initiative. SB 642 is his 10th justice reform-related bill pre-filed for the upcoming Florida session. “Tough on crime” laws imposed in the 1990s have increased Florida’s prison population by 29 percent in two decades. The state – with 96,313 inmates on July 1 – has the nation’s third-largest prison population. SB 642

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Sex Offenders – Know the Difference Between a Sex Offence and a Probation Violation

Weekly Update #11 Dear Members and Advocates, On our site this week we featured some reminders to registrants. There is a distinction between ‘probation violations’ and ‘registration violations’. For one, conditions of your probation need to be complied with in addition to conditions of registration. Also, conditions of probation may differ from one registrant to another, while registration requirements are

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Scammers target sex offenders

Scam artists are now targeting sexual offenders, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Two local individuals contacted the Sheriff’s Office Wednesday in reference to the scheme. Both victims said they received calls informing them that the caller had a warrant against them and that they needed to provide cash to the OCSO’s North District or Brackin Office in Crestview,

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Prison phone provider accuses Florida Dept. of Corrections of using inmates’ families as a slush fund

In a lawsuit, Securus Technologies said the department opted for a “wish list of goodies” over lower rates for inmates and their loved ones. The Florida Department of Corrections used the procurement process for a new phone contract to ask for “value-added” perks such as inmate tracking technology, security upgrades and iPhones for its staff, instead of focusing on affordable

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SURVEY REGISTRANT RESPONSES ARE NEEDED: Economic Impact of the Sex Offender Registry

Our names are Dr. Jennifer Klein and Dr. Danielle Bailey and we are both Assistant Professors at the University of Texas at Tyler. As you know, we have been collecting data for a project that analyzes the economic impact of the sex offender registry on those individuals required to register. At this point, over 700 registrants have volunteered for the

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