The state’s County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council voted unanimously Wednesday to shut down South Georgia Probation, a private probation company accused of misconduct in its supervision of misdemeanor offenders.
The council also banned the Darien-based company’s director, Shea Smith, from working in the state’s probation industry in the future, and it agreed to refer the case to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or the local sheriff’s office for further investigation.
Smith failed to appear at the special meeting in Atlanta called to determine the fate of the mom-and-pop probation provider, and the council agreed on the bans without discussion.
South Georgia Probation was accused of serious violations, including mishandling probation payments, charging fees that weren’t owed and allowing employees that were not qualified or not properly registered to make decisions on cases. The company was also accused of improperly threatening people with arrest warrants and lying about whether warrants had been taken out.
The case came to light as Georgia is considering significant changes to its misdemeanor probation system. Gov. Nathan Deal asked his Criminal Justice Reform Council to study the state’s probation system. A council subcommittee met Wednesday morning to continue working on recommendations that would call for greater transparency for probation providers and clear rules to deal with indigent offenders.
The Georgia General Assembly will take up reform proposals in January.
South Georgia Probation had contracts to handle probation supervision for Darien’s municipal court and the McIntosh County state and superior courts. On Monday, a Darien municipal court judge ordered South Georgia Probation to stop handling cases.
Brett Cook, the joint City/County Manager for Darien and McIntosh County, said Smith emailed resignations late Tuesday for all three of the courts.
Members of the County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council — an appointed body made up of judges, law enforcement officials, probation providers and others — said they had acted quickly to close down the company.
The probation industry applauded the action.
“We fully support the decision of CMPAC in that it makes a clear statement that sub-standard practices on the part of probation companies and county and municipal probation agencies will not be tolerated in Georgia,” said John Prescott, president of the Community Corrections Association of Georgia, a probation provider trade organization.
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