SPLC and Florida Legal Group Challenge Department of Corrections Attempt to Reclaim Excessive Force Settlement

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Florida Justice Institute (FJI) have filed a motion asking the Florida Department of Corrections to reconsider a lien it has imposed on an incarcerated person, because it is an unconstitutional attempt to recoup the proceeds of a civil rights settlement and filed fourteen years too late.

The motion, filed on behalf of Jason Baez, challenges a $547,850 lien by the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC). The lien was instituted in July 2024, after Baez settled a lawsuit against FDC officers who beat him so severely that he lost an eye. If allowed to stand, FDC would take back the money it paid to settle the lawsuit, leaving Baez with debt and a life-long disability when he is released from prison.

“Jason Baez was sentenced in 2006, for his crimes and is serving his punishment of imprisonment,” said Kelly Knapp, senior staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “The State shouldn’t be able to add an additional penalty of over a half-million dollars 20 years later, especially when the only money Mr. Baez has is from his settlement when FDC employees partially blinded and disfigured him.”

Under Florida law, FDC can impose “cost of incarceration” liens in the amount of $50 for each day of a person’s prison sentence. These liens attach to any money the convicted person has now or in the future until paid off. While in prison, FDC does not pay incarcerated people for prison labor, and their only income comes from people who give them money to buy daily necessities like deodorant and stamps from the prison canteen. After release, about two-thirds of formerly incarcerated people are “jobless at any given time,” according to a national study.

“The odds are already stacked against Mr. Baez and other people leaving prison to find jobs, housing, healthcare and overall stability,” said Dante Trevisani, litigation director of the Florida Justice Institute. “Adding a lien that they’ll never be able to pay back does nothing for the state and is counterproductive for reentry. Instead of saddling people coming out of prison with crushing debt, we should be setting them up for success.”

Baez’s motion is linked HERE.