Administrate services are the processing fees that relate to an offender who is relocating to a residence that is provided by H.O.S.T. Not all clients are in need of housing. Some come for other support related to other transition issues. If housing is not being coordinate through H.O.S.T. the administrative services are not required. If the housing is being coordinated through H.O.S.T., the administrative services cover the following types of benefit:

 

You may or may not be the client themselves. Perhaps you are representing a loved one. If they are currently incarcerated, we refer to your relationship to them as their sponsor since they cannot handle their own personal affairs quite yet.

 

For clients currently incarcerated administrate services includes the coordination of the release between the prison and H.O.S.T. Inmates visit their release officer approximately 60 days prior to their release. A release officer is a type of classification officer that works for the DOC (Department of Corrections). It is their job to coordinate the address that the inmate will be released to.

 

For some inmates, this is a fairly straightforward and uncomplicated transaction. They simply document the address and that’s that. They provide transition information to the inmate but we all know many transition issues inmates require are extensive and DOC may not have the resources to provide a lot of helpful information.

 

Sex offenders on the other hand have many more issues than just letting DOC know an address. Many sex offenders are subject to residency restrictions that limit where a sex offender can reside. In Florida that limit is currently 1000 feet from places such as parks, schools, daycares and for some inmates even a school bus stop. Local ordiances may have stricter restrictions that the state and these can vary based on county and city legislation.  This presents a challenge for the release officer as they are not always aware of which address will or won’t qualify.

 

The release officer therefore submits the address provided by the inmate to the DOC’s local probation office assigned to the location that the inmate is providing. The address may or may not qualify to meet the residency restrictions for the offender. The rules based upon these restrictions are complicated. Even if an inmate has been considered a sexual offender, sex offender residency restrictions are based upon specifics such as their charges and their offense dates. The address is submitted by DOC’s release officer at the prison to the local DOC probation office that handles the location the address is for. This address is submitted to probation regardless if the inmate has probation or not. Probation will verify the address is eligible for the inmate even if there is no probation.

 

H.O.S.T. is aware of these restrictions, and will only submit address that will meet these conditions. The ultimate decision is up to DOC, but the release officer does not always know the eligibility of an address, as it’s many times nowhere in the vicinity of the prison’s location. If the inmate does have probation, it’s all the more reason that the DOC’s local probation office in the area the inmate is intending to go to make the decision, as they will have to assign a probation officer to the offender.

 

Not all inmates have probation, but all sex offenders are subject to these residency restrictions. Many inmates are released on a program known as CRD (Conditional Release Date). It means they are being released from prison earlier than their true end of sentence date, based on a gain time program. Let’s say an inmate’s end of sentence is August, but they have earned six months of gain time and are therefore being released in February. Even though their own case may have no court ordered probation, in essence this six month period it would take in this example for the offender to reach his or her true end of sentence date is a form of supervision very similar to probation. In fact it can have even stricter residency restrictions because many sex offenders released on CRD cannot reside within 1000 feet of a school bus stop. Even if a residency is found that meets the criteria for schools, parks and daycares, finding one that meets the criteria for school bus stops is even harder because busses are mobile.

 

Answers to provide you with an eligible address is only part of what the administrate fee covers. There will also be many questions regarding the residence beyond the eligibility related to the residency restrictions. The type of room, the amenities it does or does not include. You will have full and unlimited access between the time that you sign up with H.O.S.T. until the time of the release. H.O.S.T. is there for not only the offender, but also for the offender’s sponsor at this stressful and confusing time.

 

Perhaps the offender is not incarcerated. There may very well still be probation involved. Offenders might be anywhere in the state, but haven’t found the support they need and they therefore may consider relocation in order to join our program. If the current location is outside of the county H.O.S.T. is offering, it might be desired to relocate, but probation must be reassigned to the new county. The administrative services cover that approval. We will contact the probation office in the area that the offender is currently residing, and coordinate the transfer between the current probation office and the probation office that handles the location H.O.S.T. will be placing them at. If an offender on probation moves, without first having probation approve they can move, it is a violation of their probation and could possibly lead to another arrested.

 

The administrative services cover all this coordination between prisons and probation as well as support  for the sponsor and the offender. If the offender is currently incarcerated we will write them addressing any questions and or concerns. We will not only continue to write inmates at prison regarding business issues,, but we will become their pen pal in personal letters until we meet them face to face.

 

H.O.S.T. never charges just to correspond with inmates. We respond to all inquiries whether services are purchased or not. However, you may rest assured that the administrative services certainly include that continued support. Once they are released, the services H.O.S.T. can provide them are by no means completed. In fact they have only begun and other benefits for that time are available as well.