Legislators are weighing a proposal to establish a bill of rights for people in Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) custody. Representative Dianne Hart (D) filed the bill at the end of September, and since October 7 it has been in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee. A companion bill was filed by Senator Rosalind Osgood (D), and on October 13 was referred to the Committee on Criminal Justice, the Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice, and the Committee on Fiscal Policy. If enacted, the legislation would take effect July 1, 2026.
House Bill 55 “Treatment of Inmates” would grant everyone in FDC custody a handful of basic rights: “proper ventilation” in their living units; mealtimes that last at least 20 minutes; “adequate food supply” during disruptions to regular kitchen services, via relationships with local pantries; and access to basic health and hygiene items including soap, toothpaste, menstrual pads, tampons and personal protective equipment.
They would also have the right to file grievances if the aforementioned rights are violated. FDC would be required to distribute a written copy of the rights to everyone entering the system. Lastly, the bill would broaden eligibility for conditional medical release by slightly relaxing the definition of “permanently incapacitated” to include “physical disability, impairment or handicap.”
These rights would represent substantial changes, but still leave plenty of leeway for FDC to wriggle out of them. For example, the department would be required to provide the basic hygiene items upon request, essentially making this an “opt-in” right rather than an “opt-out.”
The right to proper ventilation, meanwhile, requires air-conditioning or air-cooling systems in all housing units—unless it’s a building already in use (as opposed to new construction down the line) that can’t be retrofitted. In that case, the requirement is for “exhaust and air circulators sufficient to provide a safe and healthful environment.”
At least 75 percent of FDC facilities lack air-conditioning. Multiple in-custody deaths have been attributed to the temperatures inside cells, which can reportedly exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit. But cost projections for modernizing and repairing FDC facilities range from $6 billion to $12 billion, with upwards of $580 million for air-conditioning alone. It’s safe to assume that if compelled to add air-conditioning, FDC would report back that few if any buildings could be retrofitted.
The current version is Hart’s sixth attempt. Her term will end in 2026.
In 2019, Hart visited Lowell Correctional Institution after corrections officers assaulted 51-year-old Cheryl Weimar and left her paralyzed from the neck down. In addition to the culture of violence perpetrated by staff, Hart condemned the facility for extreme heat, soap rationing, distribution of panty liners instead of actual menstrual pads, and mealtimes that lasted between three and five minutes.
Every year since then she has filed a proposal for a prisoner bill of rights, and every year it has died in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
“We’ve got to take care of people,” Hart told WCJB in February. “That’s what we are here to do. When you are incarcerated, you’re in our care.”
In early 2025, after refiling the bill once again, she expressed hope that committee chairs would finally consider it. She told WFLA that she was “open to massaging any of the bills” she sponsors, and had been engaged in discussions about what would make her legislation palatable to her Republican colleagues. In June, the bill died in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
The current version is Hart’s sixth attempt. Her term will end in 2026.
Earlier in 2025, a separate proposal from Hart, requiring the state parole board to factor in prisoners’ use of “education, vocation and self-betterment programs” when deciding whether to grant early release, was unanimously approved by both the House and Senate. It was then vetoed by Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who stated it “would likely result in making Florida’s parole system more lenient.” With exceptions for about 4 percent of the current prison population, Florida’s parole system doesn’t consider anyone convicted after 1983.
Image (cropped) via Florida Department of Corrections