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Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporatedBradford County, Florida, with a Raiford postal address. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida State Prison near Raiford (now known as Union Correctional Institution). The facility, a part of the Florida Department of Corrections, is located on State Road 16 right across the border from Union County. The institution opened in 1961, even though construction was not completed until 1968. With a maximum population of over 1,400 inmates, FSP is one of the largest prisons in the state. FSP houses Florida's one of two male death row cell blocks and the State of Florida execution chamber. Union Correctional Institution also houses male death row inmates while Lowell Annex houses female death row inmates.
Lethal injection became the standard method of execution in 2000. The electric chair can still be used by request of the inmate.
FSP sits in the center of several other prisons. It sits across the river from Union Correctional Institution and is surrounded by New River Correctional Institution, New River O-Unit, FSP West Unit, all of which are now closed. Even though Union Correctional Institution is on the same property, immediately north-west of FSP, the county line (with Union County) runs in between the two, which makes Raiford the United States Postal Service address city of Union Correctional Institution, while Starke is the USPS address city of Florida State Prison.
FSP is Florida's only prison that is officially named "prison", with the other institutions being named "Correctional Institutions" (or "Correctional Facility" if it is a privately contracted prison).
Cesar Barone – serial killer; served time for attempting to rape a guard in a previous prison.
William Collinsworth, Ollie Stoutamire, Patrick Scarborough, and David Beagles - The four rapists of Betty Jean Owens. Scarborough died there, while two were released (one after committing a murder).
Honey Bruce – stripper who served a year for several thefts
Mark DeFriest – known as the Houdini of Florida. In 1980, 19-year-old DeFriest retrieved work tools his recently deceased father had willed him before the will officially went through probate. This act was considered theft despite the fact DeFriest did not have an understanding of probate laws. DeFriest's stepmother called the police, which led to his arrest. He was sentenced to four years in prison. The original four-year sentence has since developed into 34 years for 13 escape attempts, seven of them successful, and hundreds of disciplinary reports for minor infractions. In 34 years, he's collectively spent 27 of them in solitary confinement.
Bernard Giles – serial killer; escaped and has been transferred several times.
Paul John Knowles – serial killer and rapist who served time prior to his murders
James Koedatich – serial killer; sentenced for killing his first victim and later murdered a cellmate; released in 1982.
"Clyde "Bo" Pickler – father of Kellie Pickler; served 45 months for aggravated assault and battery stemming from a 2003 stabbing incident He was released on May 6, 2006, a week after her elimination from Idol.
Charles Ponzi – con artist and swindler who served a year for securities fraud and released on $1,500 bond
Edward Surratt – murderer and possible serial killer; transferred
Richard Wershe Jr. – drug trafficker who served time for car theft ring charges
Purvis Young – artist who served three years for breaking and entering.
Aileen Wuornos – lethal injection on October 9, 2002, (aged 46).
Michael Duane Zack III – lethal injection on October 3, 2023 (aged 54). Convicted of murdering two women and sentenced to death for killing one of the victims while getting life in prison for the other homicide.
Giuseppe Zangara – electric chair on March 20, 1933, (aged 32), convicted of murder in the assassination of Chicago mayor Anton Cermak and who may have been sent to assassinate President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Bayfront Park in Miami on February 15, 1933.
Lynyrd Skynyrd's song "Four Walls of Raiford" tells the story of a convict who escapes from the Florida State Prison; the convict is a veteran returning from the Vietnam War and pleads his case that he was wrongly convicted for armed robbery and asks to be buried with full honors if he gets caught.
In Spawn: The Undead Issue #9, the story takes place in Florida State Penitentiary where a death row inmate encounters Spawn.
It was referred to in the show Blue Bloods in Season 2 Episode 15 "The Life We Choose".
In the 1997 Arthur Hailey novel Detective a police detective in Miami is driven in a marked cruiser for over four hours to hear the confession of a man on death row at Raiford. The book also mentions that Florida State Prison is technically not in Raiford but across the road in the town of Starke.
In 2021, Americana/blues artist Shane Kelley released the song "Bradford County Blues" which is the story of a man locked up in Raiford.
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