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$49,500 Awarded To Florida Prisoner For Unconstitutional Removal Of Gain Time Credits

$49,500 Awarded To Florida Prisoner For Unconstitutional Removal Of Gain
Time Credits

Former Florida State prisoner Rogelio Ibarra's supervision time was
increased by the Florida Department of Correction (FDOC) after holding a
legislative change in incentive gain time retroactive. Although he should
have been discharged in 1988, Ibarra was violated from parole and jailed
until 1993. He sued the FDOC and the Parole Commission for illegal
incarceration.

Sentenced in 1982, Ibarra earned both basic and incentive gain time while
incarcerated at the FDOC. Under Florida State Statute § 768.28, a prisoner
could earn a combined total of 545 days in a typical year. In 1983 the
Florida Legislature reduced the maximum allowable incentive gain time,
making the combined total 360 days per year. The FDOC and the Parole
Commission applied the amendment retroactively in violation of the ex post
facto clause of the U.S. Constitution, increasing Ibarra's end of
supervision from 1988 to 2002.

After a 1990 Supreme Court order to reinstate the incentive gain time to
prisoners convicted prior to the amendment, confirmation of it's
application to parolees by the Attorney General's office, and frequent
requests for restoration by Ibarra, his gain time was not restored and his
parole was violated on September 29, 1993. On November 17, 1993, after six
years, thousands of dollars for illegal supervision and restitution, legal
expense, lost employment and illegal incarceration, the defendants realized
Ibarra was entitled to release from all supervision on September 26, 1988.

Ibarra's amended complaint against the FDOC, the Parole Commission, and
various individual officials for negligence, false imprisonment, deliberate
indifference and constitutional violations for deprivation of liberty
without due process of law settled in 1998 for $49,500 including fees. See:
Ibarra v. Florida Department of Corrections, Case No. 97 17696 CA 21.

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Related legal case

Ibarra v. Florida Department of Corrections