Prison Releases from Florida Correctional Facilities Fiscal Year Report 2003-2004

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 2003-04 29,082 offenders were released from Florida's prisons. The majority of these releases, 18,116 (62.3%), were released by expiration of their sentence; followed by expiration of sentence to probation/community control, 4,786 (16.5%); and conditional release, 4,734 (16.3%). In June 2004 offenders released from Florida's prisons were serving an average of 84.9% 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 2004 2,268 (88.3%) 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 2003-04 were black, 14,889 (51.2%) and male, 26,199 (90.1%). Most of the releases were between the ages of 35-49, 11,706 (40.3%) and were violent offenders, 9,408 (32.3%). Broward county received the largest number of prison releases, 2,450 (8.4%) followed by Dade, 2,275 (7.8%); Hillsborough, 2,200 (7.6%) and Orange, 1,879 (6.5%). The average timeserved for all offenders released in Fiscal Year 2003-04 was 36.6 months or 85.1% of their court-imposed sentence. Violent offenders served an average of 52.3 months or 82.4% of their court-imposed sentence.

Table of Contents:

5A.-9B. Special Offender Releases