The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Jail and Detention Center offers incarcerated inmates an opportunity to attend a variety of programs.
ELITE – “Education Leads into Excellence”
ELITE’S mission is to assist offenders / ex-offenders in successfully reintegrating back into the community with the strength of character, education and training. This program will facilitate in enabling released offenders to serve as productive members of society and hopefully attain the goal of eliminating possible re-offending.
ELITE offers training to inmates regarding employability skills, educational and counseling services, such as substance abuse and women’s support groups. GED preparedness and testing is also available. GED classes are also for inmates who do have their diplomas but would like to improve their reading, writing or math skills for post-secondary or job opportunities. Tuition and testing fees may be furnished for eligible students seeking to earn their GED.
Alcoholics Anonymous
a weekly group meeting provided to inmates that includes discussions and sharing directed toward alcohol abuse recovery and/or drug/substance abuse problems and is conducted by volunteers from local recovery groups. The goal is to educate and rehabilitate.
Fathers in the Nassau County Jail now have access to fatherhood classes as part of the Northeast Florida Healthy Start expansion of a program designed specifically for incarcerated men. The name of this program is InsideOut Dad.
InsideOut Dad is a unique use of fatherhood modules that include 12 core sessions along with 26 optional sessions to allow the curriculum to be tailored to fit the unique needs of fathers in specific correctional facilities and settings. Ultimately, the goal of the curriculum is to increase the proportion of children growing up with the mother of these children having involved, responsible and committed fathers. The evidence-based program was developed by the National Fatherhood Initiative.
United Way of Northeast Florida
United Way of Northeast Florida offers Parenting 101 to inmates. The program’s three primary goals are to increase parent knowledge of early childhood development, improve parental practices and increase children’s school readiness. Parenting 101 is certified by the Department of Children and Families.
The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Jail and Detention Center Re-Entry Program
The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Jail and Detention Center Re-Entry Program focuses on assisting county sentenced male inmates with re-entry into our community. The program is a voluntary, faith-based program that provides inmates with assistance and guidance during the last few months of their incarceration including mentoring and support groups after their release.
Religious Services
Local churches, including, but not limited to, the Greater Fernandina Church of God, The Journey Church, First Baptist of Fernandina and Set Free by the Sea Church, participate in providing religious services and counseling to incarcerated men and women.
Chaplains Counseling
Chaplains are available for inmate counseling. The chaplains are also on-call should an inmate experience a family death or other family tragedy during their incarceration and need immediate assistance.
