Under Court Order, Florida Frees 300 Felons; Many More to Follow

Florida freed 300 murderers, rapists and other felons from prisons across the state this week as it begins releasing more than 2,500 serious offenders to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court order, state officials said Wednesday.

Among them are one inmate who beat a 2-year-old to death for vomiting in his Corvette, and another who led a gang of teens that killed a homeless man with a baseball bat and then picked over his body in search of money.

“A hell of a lot of innocent people are going to be robbed, raped and murdered,” Lee County Sheriff John McDougall said Wednesday. “How many people are going to have to die in order to pay for this blunder?”

The releases began Tuesday because the Supreme Court last month restored “gain time”--time off that the state automatically granted to prisoners to relieve overcrowding, then took away.

The state introduced “gain time” in 1983. In some cases an inmate could earn up to two months of credit for every month served.

State Atty. Gen. Bob Butterworth revoked automatic gain time in 1992 to prevent violent inmates from leaving prison early, but the Supreme Court ruled that the state must keep its word to the convicts.

Corrections Department officials hurried Wednesday to notify local police about the freed convicts, while six members of the agency’s victim-assistance office phoned and wrote victims who had asked to be told if their attackers ever went free. State law allows victims to ask that they be notified if a criminal is about to get out.

The inmates were given $100 and were either turned over to relatives or given a bus ticket to the Florida destination of their choice.

Two hundred more convicts will probably be released Monday, and an additional 2,200 will go free in coming months and years, authorities said.

House Speaker Dan Webster, a Republican, said he will introduce legislation that would force any of the released prisoners convicted of another crime to serve all the “gain time” they were awarded in addition to whatever they get for the new offense.

Four killers from McDougall’s county in southwestern Florida were among the prisoners freed.

“Here we are telling all these people: ‘Come to Florida. Enjoy our sunshine. Enjoy our beaches,’ ” he said. “ ‘Oh, and by the way, we’re sending all these hardened criminals out onto the streets to strike again. But have a good time.’ ”