A state legislator says changes need to be made after the ABC Action News I-Team revealed the impact of Florida's "pay to stay" law. This law allows prison inmates to be charged $50 a day, in some cases for years beyond the time they actually served.
I-Team Series | Crisis in Corrections
The law is selectively enforced, and some judges have called it retaliatory, with the Florida Department of Corrections coming to collect only after inmates have filed civil rights lawsuits.
The debt can hang over people's heads for a lifetime as they fight for a second chance to rejoin society.
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The I-Team's reporting began with a tip from a former inmate who has since turned her life around and continues with Democratic State Senator Jason Pizzo, of Miami, who says the law is unfairly applied.
“The selective enforcement is really troubling" Pizzo told the I-Team. "When I was a prosecutor, I never saw it come up as an issue.”
Incarceration costs, including the $50 a day fine the state can charge an inmate, are based on the length of a person's sentence—not how much time they serve.
Earlier this year, the I-Team met with Shelby Hoffman , who spent 10 months in prison on drug-related charges. She was released early after completing a youth offender boot camp. Her original sentence was seven years — a sentence she still owes on: $127,750.
“You charged me for a cell I didn’t occupy. I felt so tricked. And so fooled. There is no ladder with them. That will every truly allow you to be a second chance anything. There isn’t. And they make sure of it," Hoffman told the I-Team.
“For someone to actually be out free and clear, not on probation, have served the entirety of their sentence and they’re still getting billed for another 5, 6, 700 days or nights? That’s ridiculous," Pizzo said.
She has a home and a family, works in healthcare, and earned her Bachelor's degree this month. She starts her Master's program in Healthcare Administration in two weeks.
“As somebody who is in recovery, doing case management is my way of being a part of the solution," Hoffman told the I-Team.
However, for Hoffman to land her dream job, working in case management, with her criminal history, she needs what's called an "exemption from disqualification" from the state. She was denied this exemption because of the $100,000+ she still owes.
“I am truly being stopped by one single barrier. And it is a dollar sign," Hoffman said.
That stuck out to Pizzo.
“Your reporting was excellent because it really identified the specifics of when it’s selectively enforced," Pizzo said. "The general ethos I think on both sides of the aisle in Tallahassee, in both chambers, is if you’re doing the right thing, if you’re following the law and trying to make a good life for yourself, we should be there to assist, we should be there to help. Not create these unnecessary roadblocks.”
In a recent court filing, the I-Team found the Department of Corrections acknowledged that "it has more than 80,000 convicted prisoners, but has filed approximately only 142 motions for imposition of civil restitution lien judgments since 2002."
And over 3 years, the I-Team found the state collected just $80,000 in these fines.
“Just on a numbers basis shows you how de minimis this actual fee is," Pizzo said.
When asked what he thinks needs to change about the incarceration fee, Pizzo said that it is based on the days served, not the original sentence.
“At the very least, you are billed for or you pay or you are responsible for those days, those nights actually spent in a state facility," Pizzo said. “I don’t think any of your viewers who stay only 8 days at a hotel but are billed for 10 would like that either.”
Pizzo said he plans to look into the law further this coming session.
The I-Team will provide updates as they happen.
This series of reports began with a tip. If you have something you'd like the I-Team to investigate, contact Kylie using the form below.
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