Stae prisons gettting a shake up

[30ashopper]

The low-key Midwesterner has taken the state Department of Corrections by storm as he sets about reforming and revitalizing the nation's third-largest prison system, a place long hostile to change and where outsiders are viewed with suspicion.

Gov. Rick Scott promised to shake things up, and nobody on his new team is pushing more change more quickly than Buss, a 45-year-old Army veteran who most recently ran Indiana's prisons.

Ed Buss wastes little time changing Florida's Department of Corrections - St. Petersburg Times

Some details on the reforms he's been implementing in the article. This sounds like an area of the state that was in need of new ideas and reform. Good to see that's happening. As one would expect though, there's one group standing in the way of a lot of these changes - the civil service unions. They want to keep things the way they are. :roll: Why am I not surprised.

 

[Bob Wells]

I am sure they would like to keep there jobs, but there is a Republican that is also standing in the way. Why am I not suprised. Also one of the companies possibly going to bid on this is a large donor.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I am sure they would like to keep there jobs, but there is a Republican that is also standing in the way. Why am I not suprised. Also one of the companies possibly going to bid on this is a large donor.

Florida Senate budget plan would privatize prisons in 18 counties - St. Petersburg Times

The move ? which could shift nearly $600 million to private firms ? surprised prison guards, their unions and even the head of the Senate's Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee, Mike Fasano, who said his committee was opposed to the idea of privatizing prisons when it was proposed by Gov. Rick Scott's aides.

The budget language doesn't appear to favor any one vendor, though a leading contender is GEO Group, whose health care arm, GEO Care, has contributed at least $126,000 to state parties and candidates since 2009.

"We made it clear that we weren't interested. We moved on without doing it," said Fasano, R-New Port Richey. "And now it appears in the budget. I'm not pleased. It is a huge, substantive issue. It's a major policy change, and it should have at least been discussed publicly."The plan's architect, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, said the proposal was all about doing more with less and reducing the size of government.

 

[Alicia Leonard]

When prisons become centers for profits, not only criminals will be spending time there, I fear.

 

[LuciferSam]

When prisons become centers for profits, not only criminals will be spending time there, I fear.

Are we becoming a true police state?

 

[Bob Wells]

Are we becoming a true police state?

Perish the thought.

 

[idlewind]

Are we becoming a true police state?

Unfortunately we are on the fast track that way.
It seems ironic to me that government is steadily attempting to take more and more private sector activities over and yet at the same time is attempting to push the legitimate functions of government over to the private sector. Holding someone against their will is a serious thing that should only be carried out with due process and under the direct supervision of the government.

 

[LuciferSam]

Unfortunately we are on the fast track that way.
It seems ironic to me that government is steadily attempting to take more and more private sector activities over and yet at the same time is attempting to push the legitimate functions of government over to the private sector. Holding someone against their will is a serious thing that should only be carried out with due process and under the direct supervision of the government.

That I absolutely agree with. it's an incentive to just throw people in jail and eventually even profit off of slave labor.

 

[idlewind]

That I absolutely agree with. it's an incentive to just throw people in jail and eventually even profit off of slave labor.

There are some things that are unseemly to profit from. Incarcerating people is one of those things. Taking away someone's freedom should happen only when their actions against society dictate it, not just to make a corporation a profit.