The Florida Police Benevolent Association recently filed a lawsuit to prevent the State from privatizing 30 prisons in Miami-Dade, Broward and 16 more counties, according to the Miami Herald. Florida has approximately 102,00 inmates within its criminal justice system, with 20% of that number housed in the disputed 18 Counties.
Edwin Buss, Florida’s Corrections Secretary, told the Miami Herald that the move toward privatization was a legislative one, designed to save money. The PBA believes that a cost study was not presented to validate Governor Rick Scott’s claim that privatization would, indeed, be more cost effective. Also, under Florida state law, a “business case’ is required if an agency attempts to outsource more than $10 million dollars. Matt Puckett, the Florida PBA’s executive director, questions whether a business case presenting evidence supporting the outsourcing was ever completed.
The Florida correctional officer’s union is also demanding copies of records from the Florida Department of Corrections that shows exactly what information is used to compute the costs associated with operating a prison.
The rise of private prisons in the United States has brought criticism of these business ventures from a diverse group of people. State correctional officers throughout America have united with national criminal justice reform organizations condemning privatization. Arguments that private prison companies cut costs at the expense of inmates is the common denominator connecting opponents of privatization.
|
|
|
|
