33-603.101. Use of Committed Name

(1)(a) In order to avoid conflicts in mailing and visiting privileges, as well as to assist inmates in making bank and canteen transactions and ensure timely delivery of legal documents, and to provide staff with a consistent means of inmate identification for security and daily institutional operation purposes, each inmate shall be recognized by the department under the name on the initial commitment under which the inmate was received. The committed name shall be obtained from the information or indictment page of the commitment package, not from the uniform commitment to custody cover sheet. For multiple cases imposed on separate dates, the committed name is the name on the information page of the commitment of the earliest imposed case. For multiple cases imposed on the same date, commitments are arranged according to service of the sentences or sequential order as directed by the sentencing court and the committed name is the name on the information page of the first imposed case as so designated. For multiple cases imposed on the same date where the order of sentencing cannot be determined, the cases are arranged numerically and the committed name is the name on the information page of the commitment with the lowest case number. This name shall be the inmate’s official identification throughout the continuous incarceration of the inmate on that sentence or combined sentences and must be included on any official document sent or received by the inmate except as provided in subsection (3) below.

(b) The department shall register any known aliases on the inmate’s record and shall also designate on the record which name is the inmate’s true or legal name if this information is available.  If an inmate’s true or legal name is not the committed name, the inmate shall be permitted to use the true or legal name on documents and mail so long as the committed name and DC number appear first, followed by the true or legal name.

(c) Legal Religious Names.

1. Upon request of an inmate to include a legal religious name to the inmate identification card, the warden or facility head shall forward the request and supporting documentation to the Office of the General Counsel for verification that the inmate’s name has been legally changed for religious reasons through court order, birth certificate or other legally acceptable documentation. When verification is complete, the Office of the General Counsel shall notify the warden or facility head in writing.

2. The institution or facility shall affix a label to the reverse side of the inmate identification card which bears the following:

This is to certify that the legal religious name of inmate DC# ________ is

[INSERT LEGAL RELIGIOUS NAME]

 

__________________________________________

[Signature] Warden or Facility Head, Name of Facility

3. A legal religious name change does not require that the department alter official records; the inmate’s committed name shall be used for all department business.

(d) Nothing in this rule prohibits issuance of an educational or vocational certificate in the inmate’s true or legal name providing that the office issuing such certificate provides a photocopy of the certificate to be placed in the inmate’s institutional file and such copy also reflects the inmate’s committed name and identification number.

(2) Incoming and outgoing mail shall be processed in accordance with Rules 33-210.101 and 33-210.102, F.A.C.

(3) An inmate who has litigation pending which was filed under a name other than the official name shall be responsible for notifying the institution or facility mailroom in writing of the name under which litigation is pending. Incoming legal mail addressed to an inmate under a name other than the official committed name shall be forwarded to the inmate if the inmate has notified the mailroom of pending legal actions under this name. If there is no record of such notification by the inmate, the mailroom shall request that the appropriate institutional office check the offender information system for identification of the addressee. If such effort fails to reveal proper identification, the mail shall be returned to the sender with appropriate notations that the addressee could not be identified.

(4) An inmate who desires to have a document or documents notarized under a name other than the official committed name shall advise the notarizing officer in writing at least three working days prior to requesting such notarization. The notice shall specify the name under which the inmate plans to sign. The notary shall review the inmate’s record to confirm that the name is a true or legal name or a known alias. If there is no record of the name in the institutional file, or the inmate cannot provide identification or documentation that the name is either his or her true or legal name, or that there is a legal action pending involving the inmate under such name, the officer shall not notarize the signature. Following production of such identification or documentation, the notary shall notarize the document and indicate the manner by which the inmate was identified. If the inmate has obtained a legal religious name change and wishes to have documents notarized under this name, the legal religious name affixed to an inmate identification card shall be sufficient for purposes of provision of notary services unless there is a reason to believe that the information has been forged or altered.

Specific Authority 944.09 FS. Law Implemented 944.09 FS. History–New 9-30-93, Formerly 33-6.0012, Amended 4-29-02, 5-20-03, 7-7-05, 12-12-06.