An inmate serving a 30-year prison sentence cannot block a massive state financial lien on his recent $60,000 civil rights lawsuit settlement, a Florida appeals court ruled Friday.
The Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a Pasco County circuit court decision that allowed the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to impose a $547,850 civil restitution lien against Jason Baez. The statutory lien is intended to recoup the daily costs of his decades-long incarceration.
Baez was convicted of a noncapital, nonlife felony in 2006. Years later, in 2022, he reached a $60,000 settlement with the Florida Division of Risk Management over injuries he sustained from state prison employees. The settlement money was placed into his inmate trust account.
In 2024, the state corrections department filed a motion in Baez’s original sentencing court to seize the money through a civil restitution lien, calculated under Florida law at $50 per day for each day of his 30-year sentence. The trial court approved the $547,850 lien, plus statutory interest, on the same day it was filed.
Baez, represented by attorneys from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Florida Justice Institute, appealed the order. He argued that because his conviction occurred in 2006, a standard four-year civil statute of limitations barred the state from filing for the lien after 2010.
The appellate court rejected that argument, drawing a sharp legal distinction between filing a separate civil lawsuit and filing a motion within an active criminal case. Because the state sought the lien through a motion in the original sentencing court rather than a standalone civil complaint, the general four-year limit did not apply.
“The trial court retained continuing jurisdiction to impose the civil restitution lien under section 960.292 at any time during the term of Mr. Baez’s sentence,” Judge Smith wrote for the three-judge panel. Judges Khouzam and Atkinson concurred.
The court noted that the Florida Legislature established the daily fee system specifically to “alleviate the increasing financial burden on the state and its local subdivisions caused by the expenses of incarcerating convicted offenders.” Under the 2006 statute applied to the case, the court maintains jurisdiction to issue these types of financial orders for the entire duration of an offender’s sentence.
READ: Guilty At The Rendezvous: How An Undercover Web Sting Caught A Florida Predator
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox
