The criminal justice system and probation in Georgia is no foreign subject to Mike Popplewell, president and CEO of CSRA Probation Services, Inc., which is celebrating its 20-year anniversary this year. Popplewell began his career with the State of Georgia as a probation officer in 1980 and in 1997, after the state decided to no longer supervise misdemeanor offenders, he started CSRA Probation Services, Inc.

CSRA Probation Services started as a single office with six employees. Today, the probation agency is headquartered in Evans, Georgia, and has 34 other satellite offices, making it the largest private probation company in Georgia. Popplewell and his staff provide services to 170 courts serving 53 counties. The growth of the business didn’t come easy. Popplewell has witnessed an ever-changing criminal justice system and built a company that reflects the change.

“It’s been a tremendous evolution in the business for the last 20 years,” Popplewell said. “When we started, all our records were maintained by hand, we handled our financials in a ledger, we wrote all our notes in a notebook, and we did not have cellphones – we had to be contacted by pager.”

When Popplewell first began his journey, the probation system was black and white, he said. Offenders either had to comply and complete their probation conditions or they were thrown in jail, there was no grey area. “Of course there were far fewer people on probation at that time since most “lower” courts did not have access to a probation program,” he said.

“Today, society has recognized that throwing someone in jail because of their socioeconomic situation, like not being able to pay a fine because the offender doesn’t have a job, doesn’t benefit anyone, not the government, the community, nor the probationer. It was once just a revolving door,” Popplewell said.

The need for change also introduced a need for better technology in the probation industry. CSRA Probation Services has “been ahead of the game in developing that technology,” Popplewell said. He created an app called Community Supervision that allows low-risk probationers to check-in remotely and pay fines without stepping foot into the office. He is also working to develop a predictive intelligence technology that can predict whether an offender will be a future risk. Technology like this is helping to fill those grey areas.

Popplewell says the business’s main goal is to make a difference in people’s lives. He also said that in order to do that, the emphasis can’t merely be on supervision. He believes that providing open lines of communication, referrals to needed services, and being an advocate rather than an adversary all amounts to “good customer service” to those on probation. “Our end goal is to help people succeed,” he said.

Since opening the first office in 1997, Popplewell has acquired other companies including Georgia Corrections Corporation in 2010, Pathways Community Correction and Alliance Correctional Services in 2016, and in 2017, he purchased Sentinel Probation Services. He was a founding member of the Private Probation Association of Georgia and served four consecutive terms as president. Popplewell currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Community Corrections Association of Georgia and holds memberships in the International Community Corrections Association, American Probation and Parole Association, Correctional Technology Association, and the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.

The number of offenders released from incarceration each year is constantly increasing, and Popplewell is continuously preparing his business for the extensive number of cases that will come his way. Popplewell calls his 20-year experience in the private probation industry as a time that has allowed him to witness and be a part of an evolution of how society views and handles offenders. He also said that he looks forward to being involved in how the shifting dynamics of the industry will work in the future.