The News Service of Florida
After plummeting early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of inmates in Florida prisons is expected to continue steadily increasing in the coming years. A new report from the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research estimated that the prison system will have 88,240 inmates on June 30, the end of the state’s 2023-2024 fiscal year. That number will increase annually and reach an estimated 94,059 inmates at the end of the 2028-2029 fiscal year.
The system had as many as 96,253 inmates in the 2017-2018 fiscal year, but the number dropped to 87,736 inmates in the 2019-2020 fiscal year and 80,495 inmates in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, according to a document posted online with the new report. The drop came as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state in early 2020, causing such things as delayed court cases. The prison population began increasing again in the 2021-2022 fiscal year. The estimates of future increases come as the prison system continues to grapple with a shortage of correctional officers. The Joint Legislative Budget Commission last week approved transferring about $25 million to expand the deployment of Florida National Guard members to help at correctional facilities