Apalachee Correctional Institution East Overview
Apalachee Correctional Institution East is run by the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC). It sits in Sneads, in the eastern part of Jackson County, in the Florida Panhandle. The Florida Department of Corrections facility directory lists it in Region 1 as a male institution. The people held here are sentenced Florida state prisoners. They are not pretrial county detainees, and they did not arrive straight from a street arrest. Each of them has already moved through a court case and a prison sentence.
This is the key point for anyone trying to find someone. A state prison is a different system from the Jackson County jail. The county jail on Penn Avenue in Marianna handles local arrests, booking, and short county sentences. Apalachee Correctional Institution East handles long-term state custody. A 2024 Apalachee CI PREA audit lists the custody and security categories at the facility as community, minimum, medium, and close or closed custody. Those custody levels describe how closely a prisoner is supervised, with community custody the lowest and close or closed the most secure.
Its sibling unit, Apalachee Correctional Institution West, sits nearby and is also a male state prison in Jackson County. The two units share the Apalachee name but have separate addresses and phone lines.
Apalachee Correctional Institution East Capacity and Population
The clearest population numbers come from the 2024 Apalachee CI PREA audit hosted by the Florida Department of Corrections. The figures below are facility, or complex, level audit numbers for Apalachee, not a separate East-only count and not a Jackson County jail statistic. The audit lists a designed capacity of 1,988, a current population of 1,663, and a 12-month average daily population of 1,646. Average daily population, often shortened to ADP, is the average number of people held over the year.
Read these as Apalachee complex figures from the 2024 PREA audit. The audit also reports a 12-month average daily population of 1,646 for the same Apalachee facility population. Because state prison counts shift as inmates transfer, finish sentences, or move between custody levels, treat any single number as a snapshot rather than a live tally.
How to Look Up an Inmate at Apalachee Correctional Institution East
Because this is a state prison, you do not call the Jackson County jail or search a county roster to find someone here. You use the Florida Department of Corrections offender search at the FDC Corrections Offender Network. That free public database covers felony offenders sentenced to FDC prison or state supervision. It does not include county jail inmates, county probation, or other local supervision, so it is the correct tool for an Apalachee inmate and the wrong tool for a brand new local arrest.
- Open the FDC offender search and choose the inmate-search form.
- Type a last name or first name, or enter the DC Number if you have it.
- Run the search, then open the matching profile from the result list.
- Read the detail page to confirm the inmate is housed at Apalachee Correctional Institution East and to see offenses, status, and any release information.
You can preview the offender search through the official Florida Department of Corrections offender search portal before you start.
The screenshot shows the search fields you fill in to find a sentenced state prisoner. Once a profile opens, it confirms the facility, which tells you whether the person is at the East unit, the West unit, or another Florida prison.
The locator gives you a small set of search fields. Knowing what each one does makes the search faster and helps when a common last name returns a long list.
| Field | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Name | text | One or more fields required | Prefix search; typing Will can return Williams, Willis, and Williamson. |
| First Name | text | One or more fields required | Prefix search that helps narrow a common last name. |
| DC Number | text | One or more fields required | Six characters; all numeric, or one letter plus five numbers. |
| Search aliases? | checkbox | Optional | Also searches known aliases when checked. |
| Do not show photos on the Offender List pages | checkbox | Optional | Photo still appears on the detail page; speeds up the list. |
| Show only offenders that have photos | checkbox | Optional | Limits results to profiles that include a photo. |
| Limit matches per page | dropdown | Optional | Choose 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, or 50. |
Note: The FDC search states that custody location, status, and release dates can change quickly, so confirm a result by phone before you travel to the prison.
Apalachee Correctional Institution East Address and Contact
The Florida Department of Corrections facility directory lists the East unit address and phone below. The East Unit fax line is (850) 593-6445. Use the main phone number for general facility questions and to confirm an inmate before a visit. For mail, money, and visitation steps, follow the statewide FDC rules covered further down this page.
Apalachee Correctional Institution East
35 Apalachee Drive
Sneads, FL 32460-4166
(850) 718-0688
East Unit fax (850) 593-6445
Visiting Someone at Apalachee Correctional Institution East
State prison visits work differently from county jail visits. You cannot just show up. The Florida Department of Corrections requires every visitor to be approved before a visit, and it requires a visit to be scheduled in advance. Approval starts with the FDC Visitation Application, Form DC6-111A, which can be mailed to the inmate's classification department or emailed to the facility's visitation mailbox. The Department says processing takes roughly 30 days, so plan ahead.
Once a visitor is approved, weekly visits must be scheduled through the offender-search flow within a set window each week. Walk-ups are not accommodated without a scheduled slot. The table below lays out the process as requirements rather than fixed door hours, because the real control is approval and scheduling, not a posted day-and-time grid.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Visitor approval | Submit FDC Visitation Application Form DC6-111A; only approved visitors may visit. |
| Processing time | FDC states approval takes approximately 30 days. |
| Where to send the form | Mail to the inmate's facility classification department or email the facility's visitation mailbox. |
| Scheduling window | Schedule each week between Monday 5:00 AM and Wednesday 5:00 PM EST through the offender-search flow. |
| Walk-ups | Not accommodated without an approved visitor record and a scheduled visit. |
Mail, Phone, and Money at Apalachee Correctional Institution East
Contact with a sentenced inmate at Apalachee Correctional Institution East follows statewide Florida Department of Corrections rules. Routine inmate mail is handled through electronic delivery, where letters are processed and scanned at a central point rather than dropped directly at the prison. Legal and privileged mail follow separate rules. Phone calls run through ConnectNetwork and AdvancePay. Money for an inmate account goes through Correct Pay, the FDC money-transfer provider since May 1, 2024.
| Service | Provider / Detail |
|---|---|
| Routine inmate mail uses FDC electronic delivery through central processing and scanning; legal mail is handled separately. | |
| Phone | ConnectNetwork / AdvancePay; set up an account online or by phone at (866) 732-9098. |
| Call rates | $0.105 per minute for North American collect or prepaid calls; up to 30-minute calls; 30-minute wait between completed calls. |
| Money deposit | Correct Pay at CorrectPay.com/Florida, the Correct Pay app, by phone at (855) 836-3364, or by money order, cashier's check, or certified bank draft payable to Correct Pay. |
These are statewide FDC channels, so they apply to the East unit the same way they apply to other Florida prisons. Always confirm current vendor details before you send anything, since providers and account steps can change.
Reception and Classification at Apalachee Correctional Institution East
A state prison does not book people the way a county jail does. There is no street-arrest intake here. A person arrives at Apalachee Correctional Institution East only after a court has convicted and sentenced them to Florida state prison. The Florida Department of Corrections then handles reception and classification, which is the process of reviewing the sentence, assessing custody needs, and assigning the inmate to a facility and a custody level.
The 2024 Apalachee CI PREA audit lists community, minimum, medium, and close or closed custody at the facility. Classification decides which of those levels fits an inmate and can change over time based on behavior, sentence, and program needs. This is why someone may show up at the East unit, then later appear at another Florida prison when you search again. The offender search reflects the current assignment.
For anyone tracking a case from the start, the path runs from a Jackson County arrest and county jail booking, through court, to a sentence, and then into FDC custody. The custody side moves to the state, but the court case itself stays local. You can read more about that local custody step on the Jackson County jail inmate records page.
About Apalachee Correctional Institution East
Apalachee Correctional Institution East is one of several state and federal prisons physically located in Jackson County. That is why the phrase Jackson County inmate population can be confusing. The county jail in Marianna holds a few hundred local detainees, while institutions like Apalachee hold many more sentenced prisoners who are physically in the county but are in state custody, not county custody. Anyone arrested in Jackson County and later sentenced leaves the county jail and becomes an FDC inmate, while the original county court case stays with the Jackson County Clerk.
The East unit is paired with Apalachee Correctional Institution West, its sibling male unit in Sneads. If a search points to the West unit instead of the East unit, the contact and visitation rules follow the same FDC structure, just with that unit's own address and phone line.
Note: Confirm custody, current unit, and visitor approval through the FDC offender search and the facility before traveling, since prison assignments and visit slots change often.