Florida SB 614: Participant Local Government Advisory Council

Bill Text

614 
Parole for Long-term Prisoners 
2025-11-20T05:25:29Z 
Providing that certain offenders serving long-term prison sentences are parole eligible under certain circumstances; providing conditions of parole for such persons; providing for disposition of savings produced by such a program of parole, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 614 

 By Senator Smith 

 17-00431-26 2026614__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to parole for long-term prisoners; 
 3 creating s. 947.161, F.S.; providing that certain 
 4 offenders serving long-term prison sentences are 
 5 parole eligible under certain circumstances; providing 
 6 for retroactive application; specifying eligibility 
 7 requirements; providing conditions of parole for such 
 8 persons; providing for disposition of savings produced 
 9 by such a program of parole; providing an effective 
 10 date. 
 11 
 12 WHEREAS, according to a report by the Florida Commission on 
 13 Offender Review, “97.5 percent of parolees have successfully 
 14 completed their parole supervision without revocation within the 
 15 first 3 years of release,” signifying that parole is effective, 
 16 and 
 17 WHEREAS, long-term incarceration disproportionately impacts 
 18 poor communities and communities of color, and 
 19 WHEREAS, the costs of long-term incarceration are social, 
 20 cultural, and economic and cause additional harm to society over 
 21 and above the costs of the crime committed, and 
 22 WHEREAS, the annual financial cost to incarcerate an 
 23 individual in this state averages more than $28,000 per inmate 
 24 per year, and 
 25 WHEREAS, a 25-year study found that people who commit 
 26 violent crimes may be less likely to commit another serious 
 27 offense, and 
 28 WHEREAS, of persons convicted of violent crimes, only 4 
 29 percent who are released between ages 45 and 54 reoffend, and 
 30 that number drops even further to 1 percent at age 55 and above, 
 31 and among people previously convicted of murder, those rates 
 32 fall to 1.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, indicating 
 33 that recidivism rates decline dramatically as people age, and 
 34 WHEREAS, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 174 people were 
 35 resentenced and released after having been sentenced to life 
 36 without parole for homicides committed as children, and after 
 37 they had been in the community for an average of 21 months, only 
 38 2 persons (1.1 percent) had been reconvicted of any offense, and 
 39 WHEREAS, in Maryland, 188 people serving life without 
 40 parole, mostly for murder or rape, were released after serving 
 41 30 or more years after a court ruled that jury instructions in 
 42 their cases had been unconstitutional, and 6 years later, only 5 
 43 persons (2.7 percent) had returned to prison either for 
 44 violating parole or for committing a new crime, and 
 45 WHEREAS, it is the intent of the Legislature to advance 
 46 public safety through punishment, rehabilitation, and 
 47 restorative practices, and when a sentence includes 
 48 incarceration, these purposes are best served by terms that are 
 49 proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and that provide 
 50 uniformity in the sentences of offenders committing the same 
 51 offense under similar circumstances, and 
 52 WHEREAS, by providing a means to reevaluate a sentence 
 53 after a certain period of time has passed, the Legislature 
 54 intends to provide the tools to ensure these purposes are 
 55 achieved if it is determined that the original sentence no 
 56 longer advances the interests of justice and the offender is no 
 57 longer a public safety risk, NOW, THEREFORE, 
 58 
 59 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 60 
 61 Section 1. Section 947.161, Florida Statutes, is created to 
 62 read: 
 63 947.161 Parole for long-term prisoners.— 
 64 (1) Notwithstanding any other law and excluding death 
 65 sentences, a sentence of incarceration that exceeds 10 years for 
 66 an offense that did not result in death, or 20 years if the 
 67 offense resulted in death and for which the offender was not 
 68 designated a sexual predator, shall become a parole-eligible 
 69 sentence and the offender referred to the commission due to the 
 70 valuable rehabilitative incentive provided by parole-eligible 
 71 sentences and the success of parolees as compared to the lack 
 72 thereof with regard to parole-ineligible sentences and releases 
 73 notwithstanding any other provision of law, including any 
 74 applicable mandatory minimum term of imprisonment, prison 
 75 releasee reoffender, life sentence, or life-like sentence. This 
 76 section applies to any offender, including those sentenced on or 
 77 before the effective date of this section. 
 78 (2) The offender may apply to the commission for parole 
 79 consideration under this section only if he or she satisfies all 
 80 of the following requirem