On gain time	 

Takeaways from Tallahassee, Florida Politics, 10/5/2019


Sen. Randolph Bracy will again be sponsoring a bill that would allow some Florida inmates to get out of prison a little earlier.

State law also allows inmates to chip away at their sentence by up to 10 days per month by accumulating “gain time” which is awarded for things such as getting a GED or being a model prisoner. But gain time has its limits — the state’s “Truth in Sentencing” requires convicts to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.

SB 394 would lower the cap to 65 percent. And it would do so retroactively.

“I have received overwhelming support from my constituents and Floridians throughout the state for a retroactive measure that would reduce the time-served minimum to 65 percent,” said Bracy, an Ocoee Democrat.

“SB 394 is a direct response to this input and will result in significant savings to the state — reducing FDOC costs by an estimated $860 million over the next five years — by providing a second chance to low-risk offenders.”

Bracy’s bill comes only a couple of weeks after House Democratic Leader Kionne McGhee and Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart filed a similar bill, HB 189.