Mark S. Inch was appointed Secretary of Corrections in January 2019. The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) is the third largest State Corrections Agency in the USA.
Major General (Retired) Inch previously served as the 15th Provost Marshal General of the Army, Commanding General (CG) of the Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and Army Corrections Command, and Executive Manager of the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency. Serving as a Military Police Officer for 35 years, he held other key positions including: CG, Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 in Afghanistan, where he was responsible for Detainee Operations and Rule of Law Development within the Afghan Security Sector; Chief of the Military Police Corps Regiment/Commandant, U.S. Army Military Police School; Chief of Staff, Task Force 134 (Detainee Operations) in Iraq; Commandant (Warden), U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth; and Deputy Provost Marshal, United Nations Operation in Somalia. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal.
Following his military career and prior to joining the FDC, Inch served as the ninth Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2017-2018. Director Inch oversaw the operation of 122 Bureau of Prisons’ facilities with oversight of approximately 39,000 staff and 186,000 offenders.
In 1982, Secretary Inch received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Archaeology from Wheaton College, IL; in 2002, a Master of Arts in Geography (regional focus: Middle East/Africa) from the University of Texas at Austin; and in 2005, a Master of Military Arts and Science from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Inch completed professional certification with the American Correctional Association and was the first association member to earn the Certified Corrections Executive designation with Honor. He also received the American Correctional Association’s highest honor, the 2013 E.R. Cass Correctional Achievement Award, and the 2012 Walter Dunbar Accreditation Achievement Award.