Florida banned parole decades ago — is there any appetite to change that?

The state of Florida eliminated parole for most inmates in 1983, becoming one of 16 states that do not allow certain offenders to serve the remainder of their court-impose sentences in the community under strict supervision. There have been legislative proposals in recent years to bring it back, but none have been successful.

However, members of the Florida Senate Criminal Justice Committee expressed interest on Tuesday on expanding a program that has existed since the mid 1990s and has seen more than 500 inmates get paroled out of the state’s correction system in that time.

That program is called the Dr. Regina B. Shearn Corrections Transition Program (CTP), named after Shearn, a now-retired professor of psychology at Florida International University who co-founded it in 1996. Housed at Everglades Correctional institution, the program has served 741 participants since 1997.

According to a PowerPoint presentation, of those 741 participants, 506 have been paroled, 86 are preparing for parole, 81 have been removed for “various reasons,” 36 saw their sentences end, 32 died in prison, and 105 have been successfully discharged (success is defined as being discharged from parole by three years after release).

Although parole for most offenders ended in Florida in 1983, offenders who committed first-degree life and capital felonies remained parole-eligible until 1995. It’s inmates sentenced before that date who are eligible for the Corrections Transition Program, with those inmates chosen by the Commission on Offender Review. According to the commission, approximately 3,670 inmates were eligible for parole as of May 2022, the last numbers available.

The program is run through volunteer donations and volunteer power. “We don’t accept any money from the Department of Corrections,” Shearn told lawmakers.

Parolees testify

Two other former inmates who previously had life sentences but have been discharged from parole also addressed the committee.

John Eddings had criminal sentences totaling more than 900 years in prison between Florida and California for armed robbery and related crimes. He advocated for lawmakers to expand the pool of inmates who can be eligible for parole.

“Parole eligibility is a powerful tool, but without a program being part of the condition attached to it to be considered for release, it loses its power,” he told the committee. He added that along with expanding parole eligibility, there needs to be a corresponding number of prison programs specifically geared toward preparing inmates to return to society.

Eddie Fordham served more than 30 years in prison before going through the CTP and being released in April 2022. He told the committee that his message was “that it’s possible to usher in a new era of parole.”

But when both Southwest Florida Republican state Sen. Jonathan Martin, chair of the committee, and South Florida Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo asked what it would take to get more inmates into the program, Melissa Coonrod, chair of the Florida Commission on Offender Review, said there really aren’t that many more candidates in the existing pool of inmates who are eligible.

“We would never put someone in there that we do not want to parole and, because our numbers are limited, then that program is limited,” she said.

Sheriffs against

One member of the public said there was an obvious way to get more of the approximately 82,000 inmates in Florida prison parole-eligible.

“The way to institute this program further into the state — which sounds wonderful — is let’s find a parole bill that would be make more people eligible, and we can have more citizens that will provide economic and community service to our state,” said Kim White.

That’s been attempted in the past, with no success. For several years, Hillsborough County Democratic House Rep. Dianne Hart has filed legislation that would direct the Department of Corrections and the Florida Commission on Offender Review to create clear eligibility requirements for those seeking parole.

One reason why the Legislature hasn’t been moved to revive parole is opposition from the powerful Florida Sheriffs Association. They published a report in 2020 that said that Florida’s existing laws have resulted in a reduction of crime.