The two-story brick building was originally the officer’s quarters of the Chattahoochee Arsenal before becoming Florida’s first prison.

The building was previously the officer’s quarters of the Chattahoochee Arsenal and had also been used to muster confederate troops during the Civil War.

In 1871, the state legislature passed a law making the prison a civil organization rather than a military post.

Governor George Franklin Drew took office in January of 1877 and found the state in deep debt from Reconstruction.

The Governor argued that prisoners should be economic assets to the state, beginning the convict lease system.

The state was paid a fee from the leases and the private corporation or individual had to clothe, feed, house and provide medical care for the prisoner.

Additionally, it was commonly believed at the time that hard work served as a deterrent against future crimes.

The practice started slowly and became increasingly popular in the late 19th century as demand for cheap labor grew and because most people were unaware of the conditions and treatment of inmates in the convict lease system.

His family immediately sent him $25 plus an additional $25 so he could return home, but through mishandling, the Leon County court never received the money.

Tabert was sent to the Putnam Lumber Company in Dixie County as a part of the convict lease system, where he worked in the swamps cutting and clearing timber.

In his time working for the Putnam Lumber Company, Tabert was subjected to physical abuse by the whipping boss, Walter Higginbotham, on a daily basis.

When Tabert could no longer work due to injury and exhaustion, Higginbotham propped him up on his swollen feet and flogged him an estimated 50 times with a 5-foot leather strap.

Under his leadership, he introduced changes concerning improved health services, education, working habits, and contact with the community.

He also introduced staff uniforms and grade school, including courses in carpentry, millwork, and plumbing.

By the end of the 1930s, horizontally striped inmate uniforms are also discontinued and all institutions are equipped with plumbing systems and electricity.

The commission was created due to the limitations of the pardon system and was given the responsibility for granting paroles, supervising state probationers and parolees, and providing investigative services to the courts.

Several staff members were also called into military service, and the war contributed to some difficulty in securing materials needed in the operation of the state's prisons.

Also in this year, the first Classification Staff were hired at Florida State Prison and a card system for inmate records was implemented.

[12] Male inmates on death row are housed at either the Florida State Prison or Union Correctional Institution, while female inmates on death row are housed at the Lowell Correctional Institution Annex.

The three-legged electric chair was constructed from oak by Department of Corrections personnel in 1998 and was installed at Florida State Prison in Starke in 1999.

944.151(3), the Department of Corrections must annually report their maximum capacity, current population, and condition of their facilities' infrastructure to identify specific needs, if any, to the state legislature and the Governor.

[26] The Florida Department of Corrections is constantly hiring to fill its ranks due to retirements, and turnovers.

In 2020 the polo shirts with embroidered badges and names were again authorized in a dark gray for Officers and Sergeants, and white for Lieutenants and Captains.

[28] The Department directly oversees 49 major Correctional Institutions across the state in addition to 7 facilities operated by private vendors.

In 2007, the state faced lawsuits alleging "excessive as well as 'malicious and sadistic' use of pepper spray," and "that its prisons subject too many inmates, including the mentally ill, to a prisoner 'warehousing' culture of unlawfully extreme isolation and deprivation, usually with little or no rehabilitation efforts to prevent recidivism.

[37][38][39] Press reports indicate that in June 2012, a mentally ill prisoner was forced into a locked shower by staff at Dade Correctional Institution.