Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility Receives National Innovation Award

BUNNELL, Fla. — The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility has been awarded the 2025 Detention Facility Innovation Award by the National Institute for Jail Operations (NIJO).

Sheriff Rick Staly and Court and Detention Services Chief Dan Engert accepted the award on Oct. 15 during the JAILCON25 Southern Regional Conference in Mobile, Alabama.

“It is an honor to receive this award and have the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility once again recognized as being on the leading-edge for correctional facilities in the country with inmate services,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “Our detention team and our partners deserve all the credit in the world for embracing the vision of helping inmates turn their lives around. They’ve done a tremendous job building and expanding innovative programs so that we can help inmates succeed and become productive citizens.”

The Detention Facility Innovation Award is awarded to a detention facility which has demonstrated exceptional achievement in developing and/or enhancing a particular aspect or feature in the operations of the detention facility in line with the mission of the Sheriff’s Office during the past year.

This marks the second time the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility has received the NIJO Detention Facility Innovation Award. The jail previously won the award in 2022 for its implementation of the Successful Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Treatment (SMART) Program and the Homeward Bound Initiative — two programs designed to improve inmate outcomes and reduce recidivism after inmates are released from jail.

In the three years since, both programs have been expanded through collaboration with community partners including EPIC Behavioral Healthcare, Flagler Technical College, Parkview Church, and Flagler Humane Society and have shown success with few graduating inmates returning to jail.

“To have our jail be a two-time winner of a national award for innovation shows that our team is constantly working to find new ways to deliver on our mission to improve inmate outcomes,” said Court and Division Services Chief Dan Engert. “If we can keep inmates from returning to jail, that’s a win for the inmate and the community and Sheriff Staly’s goal of reducing crime. I thank our staff members and our community partners for the role they play in improving our community.”

In addition to the NIJO’s Detention Facility Innovation Awards, the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility was previously awarded the 2023 Innovation Award – Medium Sized Jails from the American Jail Association and in February 2025, Chief Engert was selected to present on the jail’s award-winning programs during the National Sheriffs’ Association’s Winter Conference. Chief Engert is also a Commissioner on the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission, setting standards for corrections throughout Florida.

The Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility is a two-diamond accredited corrections facility, holding accreditations by the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.