Prison reform bills move forward in legislature

Numerous hard-fought bills proposed during this year’s legislative session could have wide implications for Florida’s correctional institutions, as well as local municipalities and their respective correctional agencies.

Proposed bills would affect not only the incarcerated population but correctional officers and people who are placed in jail or going through the sentencing process.

Here are some of the key bills pertaining to corrections moving forward during session.

Sentencing proceedings in death penalty cases

A recurring debate in Florida concerning what it takes to condemn a person convicted of a capital crime to death has resurfaced through the introduction of House Bill 555.

Current Florida statute requires a unanimous jury recommendation in favor of the death penalty but before 2016, jurors in Florida cases could recommend a death sentence if the majority of a jury — at least seven members of a 12-person jury — voted in favor of it.

HB 555 would allow death sentences after recommendations from at least eight out of 12 jurors. On Thursday, the bill passed out of the House on an 80-30 vote. It now goes to Gov. Ron DeSantis for final approval.

Shifts in attitude toward the death penalty in Florida come after the state Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that judges can impose the death penalty without a jury’s unanimous recommendation.

The death penalty in Florida also provoked national conversation last year after three of the 12 jurors voted against the death penalty for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz in November. Cruz received a life sentence instead, as the judge could not impose a death sentence unilaterally under current state law.

Opponents of Florida moving away from a unanimous jury requirement note that the state leads the nation in the number of people who have been exonerated after being sent to death row.

Inmate Welfare Trust Fund

Nearly two decades ago, Florida lawmakers stripped Florida prisoners’ access to trust fund money meant to go toward expanding education programs and rehabilitative services. Senate Bill 7018, as originally filed, would ensure that at least $32 million of the money collected by the fund would go back into prison programming.

Established in 1979, the Inmate Welfare Trust Fund is generated from profits from canteen sales and telephone commissions paid by the incarcerated population and their families. Last fiscal year, the fund generated more than $33 million, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. The year before that, it generated more than $32 million.

Over the last two fiscal years, the fund was capped at $2.5 million — meaning excess funds were not used to pay for activities to keep people serving time in prison occupied. Instead, that money went into the state’s general operating fund.

Before that, between 2003 and 2020, the trust fund was repealed and all proceeds were diverted to pay for public services.

The House took up the Senate version of the bill, but an amendment in the House set the Inmate Welfare Trust Fund cap at $12.5 million, although a $32 million cap remains possible.

Negotiations during the budget conference will ultimately decide how much is funded.

Compensation for wrongfully incarcerated persons

A bill that would make it easier for wrongfully incarcerated people to seek compensation in Florida has cleared multiple committees in the House and Senate after unsuccessful attempts in previous years.

The proposed bill extends the 90-day timeline for exonerees to file a petition to determine eligibility for compensation to two years after criminal charges against the person are dismissed. It also eliminates a provision, unique to Florida, known as the “clean hands” requirement, which makes a person ineligible to receive compensation if they were previously convicted of certain unrelated crimes.

At least 17 exonerees in Florida are currently ineligible to receive compensation under The Victims of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act because of the “clean hands” requirement, according to a staff analysis report. Those 17 people spent a combined 270 years in prison.

A wrongly convicted person is eligible for at least $50,000, and up to $2 million, per year they spent behind bars under current Florida law.

Since 2000, 21 people in Florida have been exonerated or released from incarceration. To date, the state has spent a total of about $6.27 million in awards for five people who have qualified for compensation under the current statute.

Pretrial release and detention

In an attempt to set uniform standards for pretrial detention across all judicial circuits, Clay County Republican Rep. Sam Garrison filed a bill that would create a statewide bail bond schedule.

The bill also revises several statutes related to bail, pretrial detention and pretrial release, including prohibiting certain offenders from being released prior to their first appearance. The bill adds manslaughter while driving or boating under the influence, trafficking fentanyl, extortion and written threats to kill to the list of “dangerous crimes” that may subject a defendant to pretrial detention.

It also prohibits the chief judge of a judicial circuit from establishing a bond schedule that sets a lower bond amount for a criminal offense without Florida Supreme Court approval, but would allow chief judges to set a higher bond amount.

A staff analysis report said the bill “may increase the number of defendants who will be detained in a county detention facility prior to first appearance or trial.”

At a Criminal Justice Subcommittee meeting, Garrison acknowledged that many people are critical of the bail-setting process.

“What we’re saying in this bill is in the state of Florida, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, if you are arrested for a very serious criminal offense and it meets the criteria laid out in statute, you will be having a detention hearing, period,” Garrison said.

On Thursday, the bill cleared its third House reading and the Senate version of the bill was voted favorably by the Fiscal Policy Senate Committee.

Pregnant women in the criminal justice system

House Bill 779, also known as Ava’s Law, follows the widely politicized case of Erica Thompson, whose baby died after she was forced to give birth inside Alachua County Jail. The legislation aims to reduce the number of pregnant people serving time in prison by giving judges the opportunity to defer their sentence until 12 weeks after delivery.

The bill, named after Thompson’s baby, failed to pass last year’s legislative session but has been introduced again this year and advanced through a second committee stop earlier this week.

Last year, the Orlando Sentinel confirmed there were nine imprisoned pregnant people under FDC’s care, of about 5,000 women incarcerated statewide. At the time, there were nine pregnant people in Orange County Jail; four under the supervision of Osceola County Corrections; and one pregnancy was reported in the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Seminole County.

Ava’s Law would require detention facilities to provide pregnancy tests to detainees who request one and remain in custody longer than 72 hours.

The bill would also require the FDC to track data relating to a person’s pregnancy and care while behind bars, including how many people give birth during their term of imprisonment, how many miscarriages are suffered, the age and birth weight of each infant born and a list of pregnancy complications experienced during a person’s term of imprisonment.

The annual report would remain anonymous.

Visiting county and municipal detention facilities

Currently, most elected officials including the governor, cabinet members and members of the House and Senate, can visit any state correctional facility with or without notice.

House Bill 119 permits local county or municipality officials the same authority to visit detention facilities located in their respective jurisdictions. Local officials include members of the governing body of the county or municipality, the state attorney, the public defender and the regional counsel.

Prison reform activists say such visits encourage government officials to better consider the working conditions and concerns of correctional staff members as well as the families of people who have loved ones that are incarcerated.

Currently, most public officials need to adhere to the rules and regulations established by the local body of governance of that facility if they want to visit.

On Thursday, the third House reading of the bill passed unanimously. It now heads to the Senate.

If approved, the l aw would go into effect July 1.

Rights of law enforcement and correctional officers

This proposed bill aims to provide protections to law enforcement and correctional officers who are placed in a “Brady identification system,” or a list used by certain prosecuting agencies to identify officers who have been convicted of a crime or have been found to be untruthful.

Under federal law, a state attorney must disclose to a defendant if a law enforcement officer involved in their case was previously found to be untruthful, convicted of a crime or whose credibility has been called into question.

Under the bill, officers would need to be notified if they are placed on the list and be granted the ability to challenge the decision. It also prohibits an officer’s employing agency from discharging, suspending, demoting or taking other disciplinary action against the officer solely due to being placed in a Brady identification system.

The proposed bill does not stop the agency from taking disciplinary measures against the officer for actions that placed them on the list.

The House bill passed its third reading Thursday evening with a 93-17 vote and is now headed to the state Senate.