The Georgia Department of Community
Supervision Celebrates Five Years
as an Agency
Commencing operations July 1, 2015, as a
part of the executive branch of Georgia’s
government, the Georgia Department of
Community Supervision (DCS) is the
agency responsible for the supervision of
all adult felony offenders and Class A & B
designated juvenile offenders. These
individuals under supervision have either
been granted parole or a reprieve by the
State Board of Pardons and or they have
received probated or split sentences
through Georgia courts.
Looking Back
When former Georgia Governor Nathan
Deal signed HB 310 at a rather modest
ceremony in 2015, the gathering of
criminal justice leaders in attendance
knew that the task ahead of merging two
supervision systems would be no small feat.
Establishing the proper supervision model,
developing the proper training curriculum,
and launching a new internal case
management database were just a few of
the initial challenges that had to be
addressed with bold leadership and
innovative thinking. Over the course of the
first 5 years, DCS has achieved tremendous
success. DCS Commissioner Michael Nail
states: “Our goal since inception was lofty:
we aimed to transform community
supervision practices in Georgia through an
evidence-based, community-centric, holistic
approach. To accomplish this, we leveraged
the exceptional skills and passion of our
team, and the support structure of an
agency developed from the ground up with
the highest professional standards.”