Major Findings

The tables and charts in this report detail how time served for offenders sentenced to Florida's prisons has changed over the past two decades. However, the following are some of the most salient facts the figures reveal.

Section 1: All Crimes

Comparing actual prison time served for all offenders from July 1, 1979 to June 30, 2004 results in the following conclusions:

Offenders who have been sentenced to prison under the current minimum 85% of sentence served policy will, on average, serve a significantly longer period of time in prison than at any time over the past 15 years. The average prison sentence under this policy will result in 4.0 years of incarceration compared to 1.6 years under the court ordered capacity limits of the mid 1980's and early 1990's.

Offenders sentenced to prison in the latest fiscal year (2003-04) will serve longer prison terms than any year over the past two decades. In fact, actual time served has increased by 150% (1.6 years to 4.0 years) from FY1988-1989 to FY2003-04.

Of the inmates sentenced under the current 85% of sentence served policy, 7.6% will serve more than 10 years in prison compared to 4.4% under the parole system, 3.2% when early prison release existed, and 5.9% under the 1994 sentencing guidelines (chart 3).

Table 1 All Crimes Prison Time Served in Years for New Admissions By Fiscal Year: FY 1979-1980 to 2003-2004
Punishment Policies	Fiscal Year*	Average Prison Time Served	Median Prison Time Served	Average Percentage of Sentence Served*	Average Sentence Length (Years)*	Number of Cases*
Indeterminate Parole Policy	1979/1980	3.8	2.1	64.2	4.9	5,339
	1980/1981	3.5	2.1	62.9	4.9	6,815
	1981/1982	3.7	1.9	59.0	4.8	10,221
	1982/1983	3.4	1.7	53.5	4.6	11,377
1983 Sentencing: Significant Gaintime	1983/1984	3.0	1.5	54.8	6.7	9,922
	1984/1985	2.7	1.4	54.9	6.5	11,877
	1985/1986	2.5	1.3	51.2	7.0	14,690
Early Prison Release Due To Court Ordered Capacity Limits	1986/1987	2.0	1.0	44.4	6.8	20,526
	1987/1988	1.7	0.8	37.8	5.7	27,444
	1988/1989	1.6	0.7	34.9	4.8	36,776
	1989/1990	2.0	0.8	36.3	4.8	40,812
	1990/1991	2.5	1.0	39.9	4.3	34,104
	1991/1992	2.6	0.8	36.5	4.0	19,821
	1992/1993	2.8	1.0	38.3	4.1	25,865
	1993/1994	3.2	1.3	43.7	4.7	21,832
1994 Guidelines: Reduced Gaintime	1994/1995	3.9	2.0	62.2	5.3	17,958
	1995/1996	3.8	1.9	69.7	5.7	17,938
Determinate: Minimum 85% Sentence Served	1996/1997	4.1	2.2	77.3	6.0	19,459
	1997/1998	4.3	2.2	80.5	6.3	20,498
	1998/1999	4.3	2.1	82.6	6.1	21,940
	1999/2000	4.3	2.0	83.9	5.5	24,245
	2000/2001	4.2	2.0	84.9	5.5	24,330
	2001/2002	4.2	2.0	85.1	5.5	24,836
	2002/2003	4.2	2.0	85.6	5.3	27,871
	2003/2004	4.0	1.9	87.2	5.1	30,680
* See Methodology

Chart 1 All Crimes Average Prison Time Served in Years for New Admissions Under Different Sentencing Policies: FY 1979-1980 to 2003-2004

Chart 2 All Crimes Average Prison Time Served in Years for New Admissions By Fiscal Year: FY 1979-1980 to 2003-2004

Chart 3 All Crimes Percent of Prison Admissions Serving More Than 10 Years Under Different Sentencing Policies: FY 1979-1980 to 2003-2004

Chart 4 All Crimes Percent of Prison Admissions Serving More Than 10 Years By Fiscal Year: FY 1979-1980 to 2003-2004

Table 2 All Crimes Distribution of Prison Time Served for New Admissions By Fiscal Year: Fiscal Years 1979-1980 to 2003-2004
Punishment Policies	Fiscal Year	Percent 1 to 6 Months	Percent +6 to 12 Months	Percent +1 to 2 Years	Percent +2 to 3 Years	Percent +3 to 5 Years	Percent +5 to 10 Years	Percent +10 to 20 Years	Percent +20 Years
Indeterminate Parole Policy	1979/1980	1.6%	10.8%	34.8%	23.4%	16.6%	8.1%	2.2%	2.4%
	1980/1981	1.8%	11.2%	34.2%	26.9%	13.5%	8.4%	1.9%	2.0%
	1981/1982	1.4%	15.2%	36.7%	21.0%	11.9%	9.1%	2.3%	2.4%
	1982/1983	1.8%	20.3%	35.6%	17.8%	11.8%	8.5%	2.0%	2.3%
1983 Sentencing Guidelines with Reduced Gaintime	1983/1984	1.2%	23.3%	37.5%	17.5%	10.9%	6.1%	1.5%	2.0%
	1984/1985	1.0%	28.5%	38.8%	15.3%	9.9%	3.8%	1.2%	1.6%
	1985/1986	4.4%	29.7%	38.2%	12.8%	8.6%	3.5%	1.3%	1.5%
Early Prison Release Due to Court Ordered Capacity Limits	1986/1987	11.6%	37.4%	31.1%	8.4%	6.2%	2.9%	1.3%	1.1%
	1987/1988	23.4%	38.3%	23.3%	5.9%	4.4%	2.8%	1.0%	0.9%
	1988/1989	25.4%	39.2%	21.0%	5.1%	4.1%	3.2%	1.2%	0.8%
	1989/1990	20.8%	37.4%	22.0%	6.7%	5.6%	4.5%	1.9%	1.1%
	1990/1991	16.1%	34.6%	22.4%	9.1%	7.9%	6.0%	2.5%	1.4%
	1991/1992	23.7%	31.4%	17.3%	9.2%	7.3%	6.9%	2.6%	1.8%
	1992/1993	17.7%	30.8%	20.0%	9.7%	9.1%	8.1%	2.8%	1.9%
	1993/1994	10.6%	28.3%	22.0%	13.3%	12.2%	8.6%	2.8%	2.3%
1994 Guidelines Reduced Gaintime	1994/1995	1.7%	13.6%	33.6%	19.1%	16.3%	9.8%	3.2%	2.8%
	1995/1996	0.3%	14.4%	35.4%	18.8%	15.6%	9.3%	3.4%	2.6%
Determinate: Minimum 85% Sentence Served	1996/1997	0.4%	11.7%	33.1%	18.8%	18.2%	10.9%	3.9%	2.9%
	1997/1998	0.3%	10.7%	32.4%	20.1%	18.1%	10.6%	4.3%	3.4%
	1998/1999	0.5%	12.1%	33.2%	19.7%	16.5%	10.2%	4.3%	3.6%
	1999/2000	0.5%	11.6%	35.8%	19.0%	15.8%	9.3%	4.5%	3.6%
	2000/2001	0.6%	13.2%	35.3%	19.1%	15.3%	8.7%	4.4%	3.4%
	2001/2002	0.7%	13.0%	36.0%	18.2%	15.1%	9.3%	4.5%	3.4%
	2002/2003	0.7%	14.0%	35.4%	18.2%	14.8%	9.1%	4.5%	3.4%
	2003/2004	0.5%	14.0%	36.7%	17.9%	14.5%	8.9%	4.4%	3.2%

Table 3 All Crimes Average Prison Time Served in Years By: Violent, Property, and Drug Crimes Fiscal Years 1979-1980 to 2003-2004
Punishment Policies	Year of Admission	Violent	Property	Drug
Indeterminate Parole Policy	1979/1980	6.3	2.1	1.7
	1980/1981	5.7	2.1	1.8
	1981/1982	6.5	2.0	1.8
	1982/1983	6.2	1.9	1.8
1983 Sentencing Guidelines with Reduced Gaintime	1983/1984	5.4	1.6	1.8
	1984/1985	4.7	1.4	1.6
	1985/1986	4.5	1.3	1.5
Early Prison Release Due to Court Ordered Capacity Limits	1986/1987	4.0	1.1	1.2
	1987/1988	3.5	0.9	1.0
	1988/1989	3.6	1.0	0.9
	1989/1990	4.3	1.3	1.2
	1990/1991	5.0	1.5	1.4
	1991/1992	5.5	1.5	1.3
	1992/1993	5.8	1.6	1.3
	1993/1994	6.1	2.0	1.5
	1994/1995	6.5	2.5	2.0
1994 Guidelines Reduced Gaintime	1995/1996	6.1	2.4	2.0
	1996/1997	6.4	2.7	2.4
Determinate: Minimum 85% Sentence Served	1997/1998	6.8	2.9	2.4
	1998/1999	7.2	2.9	2.4
	1999/2000	7.4	3.0	2.4
	2000/2001	7.2	2.9	2.4
	2001/2002	7.3	2.8	2.5
	2002/2003	7.3	2.8	2.6
	2003/2004	7.1	2.8	2.5