The time Florida prisoners spend behind bars has grown dramatically – more than in any other state, found a study released Wednesday by the Pew Center on the States.
The report, “Time Served: The High Cost, Low Return of Longer Prison Terms,” examined data from 35 states amounting to 89 percent of the prison releases in 2009, and found that Florida saw a 166 percent increase in the average prison sentence over the previous 20 years, costing taxpayers $1.4 billion in 2009.
Drug-related sentences rose 194 percent during the 20-year period, from an average of 0.8 years to 2.3 years. Sentences for violent crimes increased from 2.1 years to 5 years, or 137 percent – again, the highest in the study.
Florida’s perch at the top of the study – Virginia, with a 91 percent increase in length of sentences, was second – was largely attributed to two factors: the 1995 “Truth in Sentencing” law requiring inmates to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences, and the “10-20-Life” law establishing minimum mandatory sentences for crimes involving firearms.
A companion analysis found that some nonviolent prisoners could have been released up to two years earlier; it examined nonviolent offenders released from Florida, Maryland and Michigan in 2004, concluding that many could have served sentences between three months and two years shorter with no threat to public safety: 14 percent of all offenders released in Florida, 18 percent in Maryland, and 24 percent in Michigan.
