Florida Department of CorrectionsJulie L. Jones, Secretary

Average Sentence Length of Admissions: 4.7 Years

Most (56.7%) of those admitted to prison this fiscal year were sentenced to three years or less. The average sentence for everyone admitted to prison this fiscal year was 4.7 years. For calculation purposes, those sentenced to 50 years or longer, life or death was coded as 50-year sentences.

Men who received death sentences are housed on death row at either Union C. I. or Florida State Prison. Women on death row are located at Lowell Annex.

Anyone sentenced to prison today for a crime committed on or after October 1, 1995 will have served 85% of their sentence or more by the time they are released.

Sentence Length for Current Commitment

Sentence Length

White Males

White Females

Black Males

Black Females

Other Males

Other Females

Total

Percent

Cumulative Percent

Gt 1 To 2 Years

6,447

1,480

5,971

751

497

48

15,194

39.2%

39.2%

Gt 2 To 3 Years

2,936

496

2,791

287

221

23

6,754

17.4%

566%

Gt 3 To 5 Years

3,179

428

3,275

213

273

11

7,379

19.0%

75.6%

Gt 5 To 10 Years

2,137

220

2,283

135

192

11

4,978

12.8%

88.5%

Gt 10 To 20 Years

1,160

91

1,298

64

119

5

2,737

7.1%

95.6%

Gt 20 Years Or More

692

22

892

24

63

0

1,693

4.4%

100.0%

Data Unavailable

282

64

201

39

32

1

619

Total

16,833

2,801

16,711

1,513

1,397

99

39,354

100.0%

Average**

4.6

2.7

5.2

3.1

5.0

2.8

4.7

Median**

2.2

1.7

2.5

1.9

2.5

2.0

2.2

* GT - Greater than, LE - less than or equal to.
** Sentence lengths of 50 years or longer, life, and death are coded as 50 years for calculations of averages and medians.

Sentence lengths for Whites remained about the same in FY 2008-09. The same measure increased slightly for Blacks. The average sentence lengths of "Others" such as Chinese, Native American, Japanese and those of Latin descent were the lowest this last fiscal year than any other year in the five year comparison.