Facts About Florida’s Prisoners:

  • Florida has one of the largest prison populations in the US with over 100,000 people in state prison. Thousands more are incarcerated in Florida jails.
  • Florida’s imprisonment rate of 521 inmates per 100,000 residents is substantially higher than the national average of 450 inmates per 100,000 residents.
  • Florida’s prison population increased almost 20% from 2004 to 2008.
  • Inmates serve just under 5 years in state prison on average.
  • Racial and ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the prison population: African American males make up nearly half of the prison population.
  • Drug offenders make up the largest proportion of new admissions; over 65% of inmates are in need of substance abuse treatment services.
  • The majority of inmates are under-educated: 71% of state prisoners test below GED (9th grade) level.
  • Inmates with mental health problems are a growing part of the state’s prison population with 18% receiving ongoing mental health care.

National figures.

  • Over 2 million inmates are held in state or federal prison and local jails.
  • Over 7 million are under some form of correctional control (in prison or jail, on probation or parole). This equals 1 in every 31 US adult residents.
  • 95% of all state prisoners will be released into their communities at some point.
  • 92.8% of state and federal prisoners are male; 7.2% are female.
  • The incarceration rate for white males is 773 per 100,000 residents.
  • The incarceration rate for Hispanic males is 1,747 per 100,000 residents.
  • The incarceration rate for black males is 4,618 per 100,000 residents.
  • Black males ages 30 to 34 have the highest custody incarceration rate of any race, age, or gender group.

Links to other organizations:

National

State of Florida:

Programs make a difference.

  • Education programs decrease recidivism.
  • Substance abuse programs decrease recidivism.
  • Felony offenders who completed a substance abuse program were 56 percent less likely to be re-arrested (recidivate) than offenders who did not receive treatment.
  • Inmates who had a high school diploma or GED at release were 7.9 percent less likely to recidivate than inmates overall.
  • Inmates with a Vocational Certificate at release were 14 percent less likely to recidivate than inmates overall.

Sources

From the Florida Department of Corrections:

Statistics in Brief June 2009. Available online at: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/statsbrief

Agency Annual Report 2008-2009. Available online at: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/annual/0809.

From the US Bureau of Justice Statistics:

Sabol and Couture. Prison Inmates at Midyear 2007. Available online at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub

Hughes and Wilson. Reentry Trends in the United States. Available online at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/reentry.htm

Corrections Statistics. Available online at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/correct.htm