The 4th Annual Stepping Out with the Innocence Project of Florida was held on April 16th at Mission San Luis in Tallahassee. The evening was filled with encouragement and hope. This really was a special time to be able to honor the exonerated and their families and look forward to what we would like to […]

Clemency lawyer Reggie Garcia is hesitant. He says Florida's laws can be different than any other state. "No offense to other states, but particularly our smaller states that don't have as many residents that don't have the same laws we do. Our legislature, as you know from covering them meets every year for 60 days, […]

President Barack Obama has been focusing on national prison reform in the past month, as he recently commuted 46 inmates serving federal prison sentences.  Now, Florida clemency lawyer and lobbyist, Reggie Garcia aims to bring that same message of reform to his home state with his new book, "How to Leave Prison Early: Florida clemency, […]

A local lawyer is using his decades of experience to help families make sense of the complex legal system.  Lawyer and lobbyist Reggie Garcia turned author earlier this year with the release of How to Leave Prison Early: Florida Clemency, Parole and Work Release. Read more.

"For three days the neighborhood was scared to death," said attorney Reggie Garcia, who lives there and spoke at two of Markel's law classes. In the year since, not a week goes by that Garcia isn't asked by someone in hushed tones if he's heard of anything new on case. The fact that Markel taught […]

In an uncommon demonstration of mercy, Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet agreed Wednesday to reduce the sentences of two men in prison, including one who had faced a life sentence for his role in a grisly murder in Pensacola more than a decade ago. Since being elected in 2010, Scott, in his role […]

While clemency, parole and work release get more media attention and generate the most legal questions, there is another way to leave prison early: conditional medical release. The Florida Commission on Offender Review has the exclusive power to release a very sick inmate early. An inmate is eligible for consideration for release under the conditional […]

With state prison and criminal justice reforms in the news, state inmates, their families and supporters, lawyers and other advocates should be aware of early release options and strategies. Florida has nearly 101,000 inmates in 56 major state prisons and numerous annexes and work camps. A clemency commutation of sentence and parole are alternate paths […]

Over the past 18 years, a little more than 200 prisoners have been released from Floridas massive prison system for medical reasons.  Its a paltry number given the 100,000-plus inmate system and given that Florida's prisoners are an aging group. Read more.