23-21.002. Definitions

The following definitions are provided for the clarification of all terms used throughout chapter 23, F.A.C.:

(1) “Aggravate” means to add a number of months to established number of months selected from the matrix time range.

(2) “Aggregation” means a process to separate multiple criminal episodes and score each single episode by determining the salient factor score, severity of offense behavior, presence of aggravating or mitigating circumstances and assess a number of months of incarceration for each scored episode. The total of months for each scored episode is then aggregated (added together) for the establishment of a presumptive parole release date.

(3) “Burglary” and “breaking and entering” are defined as they are found in the Florida Statutes on the dates the crimes were committed.

(4) “Commission Chair” means the Chair of the Florida Commission on Offender Review who, as selected by the Governor and Cabinet, is authorized to conduct agency business and call and preside over Commission meetings.

(5) “Commission investigator,” which is synonymous with “parole examiner,” “hearing examiner,” and “parole hearing examiner,” means a Commission employee authorized to:

(a) Conduct an initial, subsequent, effective, or special interview;

(b) Provide professional case analyses and recommendations to the Commission;

(c) Conduct investigations for the Commission;

(d) Hold preliminary, bond, final revocation, and rescission hearings in order to make recommendations to the Commission;

(e) Perform other duties as assigned by the Chair.

(6) “Commission meeting” or “meeting” means a publically noticed meeting of the Commission, including business meetings.

(7) “Commission Secretary” means the Commissioner, as selected by the Governor and Cabinet, and whom the Commissioners select from their number to serve as secretary for a period of one year or until a successor is elected and qualified, and whose duties include serving notice and publishing information concerning Commission business meetings, preparation and distribution of agendas, maintenance of the official minutes, and recorder of the minutes of all Commission business meetings.

(8) “Commission Vice-Chair” means the Vice-Chair of the Florida Commission on Offender Review who, as selected by the Governor and Cabinet, is authorized to call and preside over meetings of the Commission in the absence of the Commission Chair.

(9) “Competent and persuasive” means that:

(a) The information is specific as to the behavior alleged to have taken place; and,

(b) The source of the allegation appears to be reliable.

(10) “Conditional medical release” means the release of an inmate from incarceration by the Commission as set forth in section 947.149, F.S., under conditions of release and supervision, as a result of being referred by the Department as permanently incapacitated or terminally ill.

(11) “County jail time credit” means the time awarded by the court for time spent in custody prior to sentencing.

(12) “Criminal episode” means the commission of one or more criminal offenses ending with the last imposition of a court sanction. Any offense committed after a court sanction or pronouncement of disposition will be considered a subsequent criminal episode and subject to aggregation.

(13) “Department” means the Florida Department of Corrections.

(14) “Early termination of parole” means a Commission Order of Discharge from the term and conditions of parole prior to the expiration date of parole as set forth on the parole certificate.

(15) “Effective parole release date (EPRD)” means the actual parole release date, when authorized by the Commission as set forth in sections 947.1745, 947.1746 and 947.18, F.S.

(16) “Element of a crime” means that which was specifically contained in the statutory definition of the crime on the date the crime was committed.

(17) “Escape” is defined as it was found in the Florida Statutes on the date the crime was committed.

(18) “Exceptional circumstances” are those circumstances which are out of the ordinary.

(19) “Extend” means to increase the presumptive parole release date.

(20) “Extraordinary review” means a further examination by the Commission of the entire record in an inmate’s case following the Commission’s decision declining to authorize an effective parole release date.

(21) “Final revocation hearing” means a fact-finding quasi-judicial hearing held by the Commission, a Commissioner, or the Commission’s duly authorized representative for the purpose of determining whether a parolee has violated the conditions of the parole and if so, what recommendation should be made to the Commission.

(22) “Good cause” means factors legally sufficient that justify action taken and which are not arbitrary, capricious, irrational, or unreasonable.

(23) “Individual particularity” means case-specific, factual material or references related to the inmate, including but not limited to the circumstances of the offense and unsatisfactory institutional conduct.

(24) “Initial date of confinement in execution of the judgment of the court” means the initial date of incarceration in the Department or, in the instance of a county jail sentence, receipt at the county jail.

(25) “Inmate” means any person under commitment to incarceration in any state or federal correctional facility, the Department, or to a county jail for a cumulative sentence of 12 months or more.

(26) “Juvenile sanction” means a court-imposed punishment on a minor for an act which, if committed by an adult, would have been criminal.

(27) “Matrix time range” means the range of months found where the offender’s salient factor score total intersects with the offender’s severity of offense behavior.

(28) “Mitigate” means to reduce the number of months used to establish the presumptive parole release date.

(29) “New information” means knowledge acquired subsequent to the initial interview or the establishment of the presumptive parole release date.

(30) “Nullification of parole” means the Commission action voiding the grant of parole when an inmate refuses to accept parole.

(31) “Presumptive parole release date (PPRD)” means the tentative parole release date, when authorized by the Commission as set forth in section 947.172, F.S.

(32) “Parole” means the release of an inmate, prior to the expiration of the inmate’s sentence, with a period of supervision to be successfully completed by compliance with the enumerated conditions and terms of the release agreement as ordered by the Commission. The decision of the Commission to parole an inmate shall represent an act of grace of the state and shall not be considered a right.

(33) “Parolee” means an inmate who has been paroled.

(34) “Preliminary hearing” means an informal quasi-judicial hearing held after a parolee has been arrested pursuant to a Commission warrant, to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that a violation(s) of the conditions of parole have occurred.

(35) “Present commitment” means the total of court sentences to incarceration, including expired individual sentence or sentences contained therein, resulting from a single criminal offense or multiple offenses involved in a single criminal episode. An offender may have more than one present commitment for computation purposes. Further, court sentences of sixty days or more are considered as commitments to incarceration, including sentences to time served as provided in subsection 23-21.007(2), F.A.C.

(36) “Present offense of conviction” means the offense or offenses resulting in conviction in a single criminal episode. At least one of the convictions must result in a sentence to incarceration for sixty days or more, including sentences to time served of sixty days or more.

(37) “Prior criminal record” means a criminal offense(s) which results in the imposition of a judicial sanction, when both the consummation of the criminal offense(s) and the initial imposition of the judicial sanction(s) are obtained at some date earlier in time than the offense(s) resulting in commitment to incarceration for the present offense of conviction. For the purpose of scoring in this category, prior offenses resulting in probation with adjudication of guilt withheld will be counted.

(38) “Probation” means the release of a defendant for a period of supervision to be completed by compliance with the enumerated conditions and terms of the release agreement as ordered by the trial court.

(39) “Quorum” means a majority of the Commission.

(40) “Recidivist criminal factor” means four or more prior adult felony convictions or juvenile adjudications for felony offenses, from four or more separate criminal episodes, at least two of which resulted in a sentence of incarceration of sixty days or more.

(41) “Rescission of parole” means the withdrawal of an effective parole release date.

(42) “Revocation of parole” means the order of the Commission entered after a parolee has been found to have violated one or more conditions of parole, and requires the parolee’s return to prison to resume service of the sentence.

(43) “Salient factors” are the indices of the offender’s present and prior criminal behavior and related factors found by experience to be predictive in regard to parole outcome.

(44) “Satisfactory release plan” means a release plan that meets the following requirements and is approved by the Commission:

(a) A transitional housing program or residence confirmed by field investigation to be sufficient to meet the living needs of the individual seeking parole, or sufficient financial resources or assistance to secure adequate living accommodations.

(b) Self-sustaining employment or financial support sufficient to preclude the parolee from becoming a public charge which has been confirmed by field investigation.

(c) Both paragraphs (a) and (b), available in a community that does not represent individual, collective, or official resentment or hostility to an extent that it impairs the opportunity for lawful and peaceful existence of the parolee or any individual within that community.

(d) If the individual seeking parole is a convicted sexual offender, the proposed transitional housing program or residence and employment must not pose an undue risk to persons under the age of eighteen.

(e) The occupants of the proposed transitional housing program or residence must not pose an undue risk to the inmate’s ability to reintegrate into society.

(f) The proposed transitional housing program or residence must not contain any firearms.

(45) “Severity of offense behavior” means the statutorily assigned degree of felony or misdemeanor for the present offense of conviction.

(46) “Subpoena” or “subpoena duces tecum” means a document signed by a member of the Commission or an authorized Commission representative which compels the attendance of a person at Commission proceedings and may require the person so compelled to bring with him designated items as specified on the document.

(47) “Tentative release date” means the date projected for the inmate’s release from custody by virtue of gain-time granted or forfeited pursuant to section 944.275(3)(a), F.S.

(48) “Unsatisfactory institutional conduct” includes behavior which results in one or more of the following:

(a) A disciplinary action as defined by the Department that results in the loss of gain time and/or placement in disciplinary confinement;

(b) A pending or completed court prosecution;

(c) A reclassification action (raising custody classification, transferring to a higher custody or level institution, or transferring to close management status);

(d) The Commission finding that there is competent and persuasive evidence in the form of an admission against interest by the inmate, or

(e) The Commission determining through competent and persuasive independent knowledge of an action pending either in court or in the Department’s disciplinary hearing process.

(49) “Vacate” means to set aside a previously established date or order.

(50) “Warrant” means a document executed by a member of the Commission which will cause the incarceration of a parolee or releasee pending final action by the Commission.

(51) “Work release” means the Department’s community work release program.

Rulemaking Authority 947.07, 947.20 FS. Law Implemented 947.002, 947.16, 947.165, 947.172, 947.173, 947.174, 947.1745, 947.1746, 947.21, 947.22, 947.23 FS. History–New 9-10-81, Amended 10-1-82, 8-1-83, 7-1-84, Formerly 23-21.02, Amended 7-9-87, 1-29-93, 1-5-94, 8-19-04, 8-17-06, 2-12-13, 2-3-14, 9-25-14, 7-16-17, 9-10-18.