Georgia opens new probation agency

State officials on Monday celebrated the formal opening of a new state agency designed to oversee probation and parole supervision, the latest part of Gov. Nathan Deal’s criminal justice overhaul package.

The agency, the Department of Community Supervision, will supervise parolees for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Department of Corrections. In 2016, it will also oversee parolees from the Department of Juvenile Justice.

“I know that you will be proud of the final results,” said Deal. “This consolidation of efforts will work because we no longer will be supervising someone for what they did. We’ll be supervising them based on where they are.”