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The cost of incarceration

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Florida has an incarceration rate of 795 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Florida and why.

157,000 people from Florida are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Florida is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 350,000 different people are booked into local jails in Florida.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Florida graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, Florida’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

Florida's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

The high cost of being incarcerated in Florida

Prisons and jails in Florida are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:

• Jails in Florida charge up to $5.10 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge $2.03 for a 15-minute call.
• Florida suspended its $5 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic, it should eliminate them completely.
• Florida prisons charge families up to a 25% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• Florida's policy on resources for the poorest people in prisons lacks important information.
• People in Florida prisons earn as little as 20¢ an hour for their work.
• Florida charges up to 39¢ for an e-message to or from prison; well above the national average.

Prison-based gerrymandering in Florida

• Federal Judge holds prison gerrymandering unconstitutional
• ACLU files lawsuit challenging "prison gerrymandering" election districts in Florida county
• Reading, Writing, and Redistricting in School Board Districts with Prisons Part II: Florida

Our other articles about Florida

• Florida's choice to criminalize "failure to appear" may be hurting public safety
• The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 17% of people in Florida prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• Florida makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• Florida had the highest in-prison HIV rate with 1,800 HIV-positive people in prison (almost 3% of the state’s prison population as of 2021). The state also has some of the most oppressive HIV-related criminal laws.
• Florida is one of 20 states that locks up some people convicted of sex offenses in shadowy "civil commitment" facilities, long after their sentences are over — and often indefinitely
• Florida passed a caregiver proximity law that sets a maximum distance of 150 miles between an incarcerated parent and their child when feasible.
• Some Florida prisons are replacing incarcerated people's personal mail with scans, stifling family contact
• Bail companies in Florida have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• Florida prisons release about 29,737 people every year
• Florida hinders jury diversity by excluding people with felony records and some prior misdemeanors
• Cruel and unusual punishment: When Florida prisons don't provide air conditioning
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Florida gets an F-
• Florida is 1 of only 8 states still suspending driver's licenses for drug offenses unrelated to driving
• Who's helping the 125,006 women released from Florida correctional facilities each year?

Other resources

• Research on Florida in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in Florida jails and prisons

We gave Florida a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• Florida failed to utilize one of the most obvious, and easiest, tools for reducing the prison population — stopping prison admissions for technical violations of probation and parole (which are not crimes).
• Florida was one of 15 prison systems that had not yet vaccinated more than 60% of the incarcerated population.

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency. Or check out these other resources:

• How many COVID-19 cases in Florida communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)