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City of Raiford

City of Raiford. MAYOR. CLERK. CHANNING DOBBS. ALISHA REDDING. P O Box 267. PO Box 266. Raiford, Fl. 32083. Raiford, FL 32083. 386-431-1212.

Raiford is a town in Union County, Florida, United States. The population was 255 at the 2010 census. As of 2018, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 236.[2] It was home to the original Florida State Prison and continues to be home to a total of 3 prisons.

Raiford is the site of a Masonic lodge, Raiford Lodge #82, under the jurisdiction of The Grand Lodge of Florida.

Raiford is also the home of Union Correctional Institution (UCI). Florida State Prison (FSP) is right across the Bradford County line, the two institutions having originally been one. UCI was the state’s first prison, and was originally called Florida State Prison, the name going with the newer institution when the two were split. Both institutions house inmates in Death Row facilities. FSP conducts all executions, while most death row inmates are housed at UCI.

UCI has the most diverse population of any correctional institution in the state, with close management inmates and psych inmates as well as open population inmates. Most of the latter are age fifty and over. FSP houses the violent and criminally insane, all in solitary confinement. The penitentiary compound encompasses over fifty acres (200,000 m²) and includes a farm where much food is grown that feeds inmates. The prison is the subject of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song “Four Walls of Raiford“. This prison was shown in an episode of the 1960s television series The Fugitive.

Although there are many other correctional facilities in the state, among many persons in Florida the term “Raiford” is a metonym for incarceration in Florida State Prison, the “big house.”[citation needed] Only FSP is called a “prison.” All others are called correctional institutions.

Nearby are the state’s training facilities for Correctional Officers (CO’s), some housing for CO’s, and the warden’s house.

Convicted killer Ted Bundy was executed in Raiford in 1989.

City of Raiford
MAYOR CLERKCHANNING DOBBSALISHA REDDINGP O Box 267PO Box 266Raiford, Fl. 32083Raiford, FL 32083386-431-1212386-431-1061ATTORNEYTERRANCE BROWNPO Box 40Starke, FL 32091904-964-8272COUNCIL MEMBERSPresident/ChairmanMICHAEL DOBBSPO Box 267Raiford, FL 32083 386-431-1202CHUCK REDDINGPo Box 266Raiford, FL 32083386-431-1212REBECCA BRYANTPO Box 475Raiford, FL 32083386-431-1937MIKE GORDONPO Box 124Raiford, FL 32083386-431-1937MARY ANN WHITTENPO Box 342Raiford, FL 32083386-431-1359