Barbara Scala, Regional Director for North Region of Community Corrections, sent Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward a letter on its Probation and Parole Office that is being relocated to North Palafox in the old Coca-Cola building. She wanted to “clarify some misunderstanding” about the new location.
Scala wrote that the Department properly noticed the community with ads in the PNJ on July 16 and 23, 2013. “The Palafox location is not a community corrections centers, it is a Probation and Parole Office,” she said.
Therefore no public hearing was required, according to Scala. The people reporting to the Probation and Parole Office a not “placed” in the community. They already live and work in the community. Over 90 percent were directly sentenced to probation and have never left the community.
“Placement of a Probation and Parole Office on Palafox Street is consistent with services provided by other locations in the immediate area,” wrote the regional director. “A county probation office, mental health and substance abuse facility, mission and thrift store that assist the homeless, Florida Department of Law Enforcement office, as well as many law offices, are all presently in the neighborhood.”
She ended the letter, “We have enjoyed an excellent relationship with the City and the citizens of Pensacola for many years, and we look forward to continuing this relationship into the future.”
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