Welcome to our family! In May of 1997, the Florida legislature passed HB 1371 which created the “Prison Releasee Reoffender Act.” This is a “2-strikes law” which states that anyone who commits a qualifying offense under the statute within 3 years of being released from a prison sentence no longer qualifies to be sentenced under the regular guidelines. The prosecutor alone has discretion as to who qualifies, and once they deem someone to be a PRR the judge has no discretion and must sentence the individual to the statutory maximum sentence. All those sentenced under PRR must serve 100% of their sentence, and are not eligible for gain time, or any kind of early release.

For more information on the PRR and why we are fighting to retroactively amend/repeal this law, please visit each tab for more information. The “About” section will give an overview of several key points which show the disproportionality of PRR sentencing. You may also find the articles from The Marshall Project and the Tampa Bay Times (links for which are provided below) very informative.

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, September 5 at 9:00 PM Central on PBS for the PRR documentary that was shown at the 2023 Florida Film Festival! This documentary features Mark Jones who was given a life sentence for robbery after reaching into a woman’s car, grabbing her wrist and demanding her keys. The woman screamed and Mark ran off. Mark’s prior PRR qualifying prison sentence had been for grand theft when he stole a power tool from Home Depot. We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to Director Ursula Liang for directing the documentary, to PBS Frontline for airing it, and to Mark and his family for being the “face” of PRR. Click on the following link for more information. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/schedule/

Recent reports by The Marshall Project and The Tampa Bay Times regarding PRR!