Prison Releases from Florida Correctional Facilities Fiscal Year Report 2002-2003

Executive Summary

This report documents permanent releases from Florida's prisons. For a detailed definition of a permanent release, please see Appendix at the end of the report.

Overview

In Fiscal Year 2002-03 26,599 offenders were released from Florida's prisons. The majority of these releases, 16,542 (62.2%), were released by expiration of their sentence; followed by expiration of sentence to probation/community control, 4,679 (17.6%); and conditional release, 4,375 (16.4%). In June 2003 offenders released from Florida's prisons were serving an average of 84.5% of their court-imposed sentence. It should be noted that offenders with offense dates on or after October 1, 1995 are required to serve a minimum of 85% of their court-imposed sentence prior to their release. In June 2003 1,881 (83.4%) of the inmate releases had all or part of their sentence fall under the 85% law.

Profile of a Release

The majority of offenders released from Florida's prisons in Fiscal Year 2002-03 were black, 13,974 (52.5%) and male, 24,148 (90.8%). Most of the releases were between the ages of 35-49, 10,818 (40.7%) and were violent offenders, 9,158 (35.6%). Broward county received the largest number of prison releases, 2,464 (9.3%) followed by Dade, 2,206 (8.3%); Hillsborough, 2,066 (7.8%) and Orange, 1,754 (6.6%). The average timeserved for all offenders released in Fiscal Year 2002-03 was 37.7 months or 83.7% of their court-imposed sentence. Violent offenders served an average of 52.5 months or 80.2% of their court-imposed sentence.

Table of Contents:

5A.-9B. Special Offender Releases