Whats the difference between a jail and a prison?
The most notable difference is that jails are generally managed by the county and prisons are generally managed by the state. In addition, jail inmates may be awaiting sentencing, and prison inmates have already been convicted and sentenced, usually for a felony. Finally, jail inmates usually are sentenced to a year or less, whereas prison inmates usually have sentences of more than a year. The Florida Department of Corrections keeps track of the number and type of county jail inmates via its monthly “County Detention Facilities” report located at www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/jails/Annual/1998/ or a copy can be obtained by calling the Bureau of Research and Data Analysis at (850) 488-1801.
