Santa Rosa Correctional Institution (SRCI) is a Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) prison at 5850 E Milton Rd in Milton, Santa Rosa County, in the Florida Panhandle, housing more than 1,600 adult men. Opened in 1996, it is sometimes described, informally, as one of the more restrictive institutions in the Florida system, and it sits alongside both an FDC-operated Annex and a separate, privately run facility. This guide covers who is held at Santa Rosa CI, how it differs from the adjacent Annex, and the practical steps for visiting, writing, sending money, and staying in touch with someone incarcerated there.
History of Santa Rosa Correctional Institution
Santa Rosa CI opened in 1996 with its current capacity of roughly 1,614 beds. A decade later, in 2006, FDC opened the adjacent Santa Rosa Correctional Institution Annex as its own, separately administered institution with roughly 1,478 additional beds — a distinct facility with its own FDC listing, not simply an extension of the main unit. The privately operated Blackwater River Correctional Facility is also nearby, adding to a cluster of correctional facilities in this part of Santa Rosa County. Because the main institution and its Annex are so often discussed together, it's worth double-checking which specific facility a record or news story refers to before assuming details from one apply to the other.
Who Is Held at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution
Santa Rosa CI is a male-only institution with a rated capacity of about 1,614 beds, housing men serving state sentences ranging from one year to life. It's worth noting directly: Florida's death row is officially housed at Florida State Prison and Union Correctional Institution for men, and at Lowell Correctional Institution Annex for women — not at Santa Rosa CI or its Annex, despite some informal claims to the contrary that circulate online. If you're trying to confirm the custody status of a specific inmate, rely on FDC's official inmate locator rather than general reputation.
PrisonAssist.com's directory currently holds roughly 17,746 arrest and booking records associated with Santa Rosa 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 changes as people are released, transferred, or newly arrive.
Sentences of "one year to life" are a wide range, and it reflects the fact that Santa Rosa CI, like most FDC major institutions, isn't reserved for a single category of offense. Someone serving a relatively short state sentence and someone serving a life sentence can be housed in the same general-population complex, with custody level — rather than sentence length alone — driving day-to-day housing and program assignments.
Programs and Services
Santa Rosa CI offers Adult Basic Education, GED preparation, and Special Education Services for inmates who need them. Vocational programming has included farm-worker training and textile-repair-worker training. Faith-based and chaplaincy services include Bible studies, religious education, and worship services, and the facility also offers institutional betterment programming such as Alcoholics Anonymous, smoking-cessation support, and general mental-health wellness programming.
For families, these programs matter beyond simply filling an inmate's schedule: consistent participation in education, vocational, and betterment programming is generally viewed favorably during classification reviews and can support a case for a lower custody level over time. If a loved one hasn't mentioned enrolling in any of these programs, it's worth asking during a call or in a letter whether they've had the chance to sign up and whether there's a waitlist, since program capacity at any single facility is limited relative to its population.
How to Find an Inmate at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution
If you believe a loved one has been transferred to Santa Rosa CI — 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 850-983-5800. You can also reach the warden's office by email at [email protected]. Because the main institution and the Santa Rosa CI Annex are separate facilities, make sure any confirmation you receive specifies which one a loved one is actually housed at.
Visitation at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution
Regular visiting runs Saturdays and Sundays, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern (8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Central), with visitor registration beginning at 8:15 a.m. Eastern (7:15 a.m. Central); holiday visitation is permitted on designated federal and state holidays. Dress-code rules are set at the state level under Florida Administrative Code and are enforced consistently across FDC facilities: no exposed midriff, shoulders, or cleavage; no spandex, leggings, or tank tops; skirts and shorts no more than three inches above the knee; nothing resembling an inmate or staff uniform; and closed-toe shoes are required. Visitors need to be pre-approved in advance, so plan ahead rather than trying to arrange a visit on short notice.
Milton sits just northeast of Pensacola, making Santa Rosa CI somewhat more accessible than some of Florida's other rural major institutions, but it's worth noting that the Santa Rosa CI Annex and the privately run Blackwater River Correctional Facility both sit nearby with their own separate visitor-check-in processes — double-check with the specific facility you're visiting so you don't end up at the wrong gate on the day of your trip.
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 Milton. Mail is scanned centrally and distributed electronically to the housing institution. Physical mail rules allow letters, photos, and postcards up to 4 inches by 6 inches, written in pencil or blue or black ink; 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
Santa Rosa CI's deposit system runs through JPay, FDC's statewide vendor for inmate deposits, commissary funds, e-messaging, tablets, and video services. Families can fund an inmate's account online at jpay.com or via the JPay app using a credit or debit card, or through other statewide channels such as MoneyGram. 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 is held by Securus Technologies, with rates effective since late 2016 of roughly $0.04 per minute for local/extended-area calls and $0.14 per minute for longer-distance calls, with no separate connection fee and no transaction fee on prepaid deposits. Confirm the currently active vendor and rate directly with the facility before setting up a calling account, since contracts can be rebid over time.
A Note on Facility History and Conditions
Santa Rosa CI has, at times, drawn public attention over conditions and specific incidents. In March 2012, an inmate named Ricky Martin was killed by his cellmate within 36 hours of being transferred to the facility; reporting years later found that other inmates had reportedly warned officers an attack was imminent, and a federal civil-rights lawsuit was filed against department officials in 2016 alleging deliberate indifference to that risk. More recently, in November 2023, an inmate named Joshua Scott was killed by his cellmate at the facility; the person charged in that killing, who had a prior manslaughter conviction, was later reported to have received an additional life sentence. Families researching this facility should understand these as documented, individual incidents from public reporting and court records rather than a general characterization of current conditions, but they're relevant context for anyone with a loved one there. If you have specific safety concerns about someone incarcerated at Santa Rosa CI, raising them directly and promptly with the facility's classification staff is the most effective first step.
Release and Life After Santa Rosa CI
It's worth being direct about something families sometimes ask: bail does not apply once someone is incarcerated at Santa Rosa 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 Santa Rosa CI, 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 Santa Rosa CI — our bail bonds service is built for that earlier stage. What families of someone already at Santa Rosa CI 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 for inmates who follow institutional rules and, separately, incentive gain time for completing education, vocational, or substance-abuse programs, such as those offered at Santa Rosa CI. 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 entirely for serious disciplinary infractions, including violent incidents that have occurred at this facility.
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. Santa Rosa CI, with a capacity of roughly 1,614 beds and its separately administered Annex, is one of several major Panhandle institutions serving that population.