TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Public Justice filed a federal lawsuit today against the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) and FDC Secretary Richard Comerford challenging a more than $400,000 “cost of incarceration” lien imposed on Danny Johnson, a formerly incarcerated man with a serious mental health disability.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, argues that the lien is an unconstitutionally excessive fine imposed without due process. The lien also punishes Johnson for the symptoms of a serious mental health disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act; Johnson has bipolar disorder, a diagnosis made by the FDC’s own providers. Now released from prison, he is currently homeless with no income and no means to pay his exorbitant debt, which continues to accrue interest.

“Mr. Johnson was in the middle of a psychiatric emergency, and the state’s answer was to bury him in debt he will never be able to repay,” said Kelly Knapp, senior staff attorney, SPLC. “The only lawful punishment against Mr. Johnson was his prison sentence. The FDC cannot build its own system to punish people for their disabilities, then call it the cost of recovery. A $400,000 lien is simply a way to make Mr. Johnson suffer for the rest of his life.”

In late 2023, the FDC imposed the lien in response to Johnson allegedly spitting at an officer who had sprayed him in the face with chemical agents as Johnson was attempting suicide while incarcerated. That incident left Johnson hospitalized for over four months. Though he was never formally punished or charged for the alleged battery, in February 2025, the FDC asked the sentencing court for a lien of $50 for every day of Johnson’s 22-year sentence, which the court granted eight days later, before he could respond.

The Florida Civil Restitution Lien Act, passed in 1994, established liens as a way to help the state recover the cost of housing people in prison; the liens were not intended to be punishment. The FDC rarely used these types of liens until 2022, when the agency announced it would pursue liens against people it accuses of battering staff — regardless of whether accusations are ever proven true. Since that announcement, the FDC has successfully imposed more than 900 of these liens against people merely accused of batteries (battery), often for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. The dollar figure depends only on the length of the person’s sentence rather than the alleged crime. Had Johnson been convicted of the alleged battery, the maximum fine the sentencing court could have imposed to punish him would have been $5,000.

“The liens work less as a way to recoup costs and more as a punishment with no trial, no hearing and no limit,” said Jacqui Oesterblad, staff attorney, Public Justice. “No Floridian should be sentenced to a lifetime of debt for the cost of their own incarceration.”

Because Florida courts treat entering these liens as a “ministerial” task, judges do not weigh whether the amount imposed is fair. People targeted rarely have lawyers, and the debt is almost never collected because people in prison have little means to earn money.

The SPLC and Public Justice have asked the court to strike down this lien against Johnson.

The court order can be viewed here.

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About the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people. For more information, visit www.splcenter.org.

About Public Justice
Public Justice takes on the most significant systemic threats to justice of our time — abusive corporate power and predatory practices, the assault on civil rights and liberties, and the destruction of the earth’s sustainability. We link high-impact litigation with strategic communications and the strength of our partnerships to combat these abusive and discriminatory systems and achieve social and economic justice. For more information, visit public-justice.org.