Is It True The 65% Law Has Passed For Federal Inmates?

Put simply, the law was not passed. After three attempts at it, it was decided to keep the sentence serve time to at least 85%. The decision to make no change was due to a decrease in prison admissions, meaning there was no press to move inmates out of the prison due to overflow, so there was no need to shorten the sentences. The last update on the situation of this bill was on July 3rd, 2011.

This started when Florida Legislature began a law, on which the aim was to "Stop Turning Out Prisoners Act" (ch. 95-294, Laws of Fla. Therein) which came as an appendix to the incentive gain time statute, § 944.275. This law dictated that all inmates with offense dates on or after October 1, 1995, must serve 85% of their sentences.

Even though there has been talk over the years about changing the 85% requirement to something like 65%, there has been no forward progress on the matter. This is because there is no overcrowding of the detention centers in Florida, and there isn't any suspected increase of the prison population for a while. It's even expected to decrease slightly.

However, prisoners and their respective families should not assume that the bill will not change from 85%, just because the prison population is not slated to increase.

This could be simply due to the state trying to find a way to reduce the state budget - keeping an inmate behind bars costs the state around $20,000 per inmate, and this multiplied by many hundreds of inmates that don't necessarily need to fulfill the full amount of their sentence can save the state a vast amount of money.

An overview of the information can be found at the Florida State Department of Corrections homepage at http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/timeserv/doing/

I husband was sentenced to 19 years on a first time offense has no prior convictions for a drug offense on here say! After examining his case over during a motion hearing after serving 13 years (7 years were taken from his time, his release date was 2019 thanks to the crack ;law he gets out 2012!! And there is a new bill that has gone in effect but because of case overloads the process is moving slow just keep trusting God he holds all keys to freedom!!!

My fiance is doing time also  and he told me about this law a week ago  but  thats the only time I heard anything about it. I hope it true  so he can come home really soon .This is what I pray for most  of all  and for him to be safe. So I am holding on to hope that god will do this for all of us  and the ones we love . So I hope the law is true and it is passed so the ones we love  and the ones that love us come home.If any one find out please let me know.

My husband just told me yesterday that this law was to be passed in Nov 09. He was sentenced to 13 years and I'm hoping with good behavior and this new law he can be released early. Also if your loved ones are in for drug charges they should look into the new reduced crack laws. I know several fed inmates that were just recently released due to this new law. Hopefully President Obama will see that these sentencing's are way to harsh and revise the guidelines. Hope this helps!

I'm still trying to find out myself. I was told that it was a HUGE thing over the news, but I have yet to find the article. Also, I'm told that a signature from the President is being waited on to pass the 65% law. Let's hope it will happen.

Well my boyfriend is due home 2016. He has been locked up now for 4 years. I hope someone soon can answer did the bill get passed I miss him so much and need him home. I'm ready to get married and live our lives. I believe him when he says he has changed. This is his first time going to jail and he gets treated like someone that gets in trouble with the law all the time.... Please let us know something soon love always Mrs. Walker

I have been looking for the answer to the question on 65% Law also, my fiance in also in for five years, he has served 1 year and 5 months. He told me just this week that it is to be signed in June he was told, but I can't find anything, I can only pray that it is true and that the President signs it soon...... If anyone knows for sure, please get back to me.

I was told by fiance that they talked about it today on CNN (I never hear about these things) and they were saying that since the prisons are overcrowded that they are going to try to move it up from November to September 2009. He has currently served 3 1/2 years already and without this law passing he has 4 more years to go so hopefully something happens so he won't have as much time to do.

My fiance is currently serving time in federal prison and he told me that last week they were told that the 65% law will be signed in November 2009. I haven't read about it in the papers nor heard anything about it on the news... I'm thinking it may be true because the same thing happened when the crack law was recently passed. It wasn't talked about in the media, but the law passed shortly after the inmates were told of it. Something to look into though...

Is there any truth to rumors of this law passing this year.  I was told it was in the NY Times on May 30th,2010.  Can you let me know if this is so.

I don't think anything is in writing yet, Obama requested the Federal Government take control of the prison in Illinois on the 15th. They most likely will not even arrive there until after the January 22nd deadline set by the President. I'm sure any objections to this acquisition will be met with money to silence it. Nothing like a fluffed up budget increase to "make things all better" lol