Okeechobee Correctional Institution (OCI) is a Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) facility at 3420 NE 168th Street in Okeechobee, Okeechobee County, that opened in 1995 and now operates alongside an attached work camp under the combined official name "Okeechobee C.I. & W.C." This guide covers who is held at Okeechobee, its recent federal compliance record, and the practical steps for visiting, writing, sending money, and staying in touch with someone incarcerated there.
History of Okeechobee Correctional Institution
Okeechobee CI opened in 1995 as a state-owned and state-operated FDC facility in unincorporated Okeechobee County. Over time, the department attached a work camp to the same site, and the two now share a single FDC facility designation — "Okeechobee C.I. & W.C." — even though they represent different custody levels and populations within the same compound.
Who Is Held at Okeechobee Correctional Institution
OCI is a male-only facility housing men from age 19 to their 80s across a custody range from minimum to close, spread over eight housing units. Capacity figures require a bit of explanation: our directory's baseline lists roughly 1,632 beds for the main institution, which lines up with most third-party trackers, but a 2023 federal audit of the combined "C.I. & W.C." designation put the designated facility capacity at 2,016, with an average daily population of 2,104 — the difference is best explained by that audit measuring the main institution and its attached work camp together, rather than the main institution alone. If you're trying to pin down exact numbers, it's worth confirming whether a figure refers to the main institution alone or to the combined complex.
PrisonAssist.com's directory currently holds roughly 18,708 arrest and booking records associated with Okeechobee Correctional Institution. That figure is a historical count of records compiled in our directory over time, not a live population snapshot — the facility's actual current population is governed by its bed capacity and turns over as people are released, transferred, or newly arrive.
Okeechobee's custody range from minimum to close within a single complex means the facility can hold someone through more than one stage of their classification journey without necessarily needing an inter-facility transfer — a person who starts at a higher custody level on arrival can, after a favorable classification review, move to a lower-custody housing unit within the same eight-unit complex rather than being relocated across the state. If a loved one's custody level changes, it's worth asking their classification officer whether that means a physical move within Okeechobee or elsewhere in the FDC system.
A Strong Federal Compliance Record
It's worth highlighting something genuinely positive and well-documented about this facility: a federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) audit conducted in October 2023 found Okeechobee CI met all 43 applicable federal standards with zero non-compliant findings, and the facility actually exceeded two specific standards — one covering services for inmates with disabilities and limited English proficiency, and another covering inmate access to education. That's a strong, independently verified result, and it's the kind of concrete data point families researching a facility's track record don't always get to see.
Programs and Services
OCI offers Adult Basic Education and GED preparation, vocational training, substance-abuse treatment, and chaplaincy and faith-based programming, along with institutional betterment offerings like anger management and job-readiness classes. Medical, mental health, and dental care at the facility are provided under contract by Centurion of Florida, a healthcare contractor used across multiple FDC institutions. As of the 2023 federal audit, the facility reported 313 staff members with regular inmate contact, 118 authorized contractors, and 118 authorized volunteers supporting programming.
That volunteer count is worth noting on its own: 118 authorized outside volunteers is a substantial number for a single institution, and it typically reflects an active roster of community and faith-based groups running regular programming inside the facility beyond what FDC staff run directly. If a loved one mentions a specific outside program or visiting group by name, it's a reasonable sign the facility's volunteer programming is genuinely active, not just a line item on paper.
How to Find an Inmate at Okeechobee Correctional Institution
If you believe a loved one has been transferred to OCI — typically after sentencing and intake processing at a reception center, not immediately after arrest — search their name on PrisonAssist.com to check our records, then confirm current custody status and exact location with FDC's official inmate locator or by calling the facility directly at 863-462-5400.
Visitation at Okeechobee Correctional Institution
Regular visiting runs Saturdays and Sundays, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern, with registration beginning at 8:15 a.m.; holiday visitation is available on major federal and state holidays. Visitors must submit FDC Form DC6-111A in advance — hand-written in black ink and mailed by the inmate through the facility's Classification Department, with approval typically taking around 30 days — so don't expect to arrange a first visit on short notice. Bring a valid, unexpired photo ID (driver's license, state ID, or passport), and expect a metal detector screening along with a search of your belongings and vehicle. Dress-code rules follow statewide FDC standards: no spandex, no solid blue or orange clothing (which resembles inmate or staff uniforms), no tank tops, shorts no shorter than three inches above the knee, and nothing resembling medical scrubs or a military uniform. The facility's warden retains discretion to suspend visitation for any individual inmate, housing unit, or the entire institution without advance notice.
Because approval can take about a month, the most common mistake families make is waiting until after a loved one arrives at OCI to start the visitor-application process. If you already know a transfer to Okeechobee is likely — for instance, if a loved one is currently at a reception center and Okeechobee has come up as a probable placement — it can be worth asking their classification officer whether you can begin the application early, rather than losing weeks of possible visiting time to processing delays after the fact.
Sending Mail to an Inmate
Florida centralizes routine inmate mail statewide: address letters using the inmate's committed name and DC#, then send them to PO Box 23608, Tampa, FL 33623, rather than to the facility's street address in Okeechobee. Mail is scanned centrally and distributed electronically to the housing institution. Legal and privileged mail is the exception and goes directly to the facility. Mail must go through USPS only, and Florida Administrative Code prohibits boxes, padded envelopes, plastic bags, multi-layer or reinforced packaging, metal fasteners, bubble wrap, and packing peanuts. Our letter-writing service formats, prints, and mails letters and photos so they're built to clear inspection the first time.
Sending Money and Commissary
OCI's deposit system runs primarily through JPay, which operates roughly 20 kiosks on-site offering money transfer, e-messaging/videograms, and paid video visitation at $2.95 per 15-minute session. Families can also send funds through MoneyGram, Securus Pay, or AccessCorrections, depending on which channel is most convenient. Commissary orders are placed weekly through the inmate kiosk system, typically submitted about two days in advance of delivery. As with other FDC facilities, anyone sending funds generally needs to be on the inmate's approved contact list first.
Phone Calls
FDC's statewide inmate telephone contract, awarded in December 2018 for roughly a ten-year term, is held by Global Tel*Link (GTL), now operating under the ViaPath Technologies brand via the ConnectNetwork platform, with a rate around $0.135 per minute plus a modest deposit fee. Confirm current rates and account setup directly with the facility, since contract terms and providers can change.
A Note on Facility History
In March 2025, Pedro Bravo — convicted in the 2012 killing of University of Florida student Christian Aguilar, a case that drew significant statewide news coverage at the time of his original trial — was found dead at Okeechobee CI in an apparent suicide, days after prosecutors filed new charges against him related to a post-conviction relief motion. This was widely and consistently reported by multiple South Florida news outlets. Families researching this facility should understand it as a documented, individual event rather than a broader characterization of current conditions, particularly alongside the facility's strong October 2023 federal compliance audit described above.
Release and Life After Okeechobee CI
It's worth being direct about something families sometimes ask: bail does not apply once someone is incarcerated at Okeechobee Correctional Institution. Bail is a pretrial tool used to secure release from county jail while a case is still pending. By the time someone is transferred to an FDC state prison like OCI, they have already been convicted and sentenced, so release instead comes from completing the sentence, earning statutory gain time for good behavior and program participation, or, in limited cases involving older pre-1983 offenses, parole eligibility. If bail is still relevant to your family's situation, that generally means the person is still in county jail awaiting trial or sentencing rather than at OCI — our bail bonds service is built for that earlier stage. What families of someone already at OCI can do is stay connected by writing letters, sending photos, shipping an approved care package, keeping the commissary funded through JPay, and setting up affordable phone service.
On the gain time question specifically, Florida operates under what's commonly called the "85% law": for most felony offenses committed since 1995, state law requires an inmate to serve at least 85% of their imposed sentence regardless of gain time earned. On that floor, FDC can award basic gain time to inmates who follow institutional rules and, separately, incentive gain time for completing the education, vocational, and substance-abuse programs described above. This isn't discretionary parole; it's time credited against a fixed sentence for documented good behavior and program completion, and it can be reduced or forfeited for serious disciplinary infractions. Given OCI's strong 2023 federal compliance record, families may find the facility's program access and documentation practices more consistent than at some other institutions, which can matter when verifying gain time credit.
Incarceration in Florida: The Bigger Picture
Florida's overall imprisonment rate runs around 371 people per 100,000 residents, with a total state prison population near 81,027 and a county jail population near 56,660 statewide. Okeechobee CI, with a combined institution-and-work-camp capacity north of 2,000 beds, is one of the larger single FDC complexes serving that population, and its clean 2023 federal compliance audit stands out as a notable, independently verified data point in a system where that isn't always the case.