Largest U.S. Private-Prison Deal Defeated in Florida’s Senate
Posted February 15, 2012 06:45 am
TALLAHASSEE , FL - By a two-vote margin Tuesday, Florida lawmakers killed a bill that would have privatized 26 prisons in the state.
Corrections officers, backed by unions including the
AFL-CIO and Teamsters, fought the legislation. The
private-prison move was supported by the Republican
majority and Gov. Rick Scott, who claimed it was a big
money-saver.
Moral issues over profiting from locking people up were
raised by representatives of civil-rights groups
including Florida NAACP President Dale Landry.
"The stand is actually a national NAACP stand, which is
against the privatization of prisons because it
continues to further industrialize the business of
locking up and feeding off of those that can't do
anything for themselves."
Corrections officers had claimed the privatization
proposal would have put thousands of Florida Department
of Corrections employees out of work, and seriously
harmed small communities dependent on those state jobs.
Backers of privatization say it would have saved the
state more than $16 million.
One issue revealed late in the debate was that private
prison companies - including south Florida-based Geo
Group and Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation
of America - had hired staff who had been let go for
misconduct by state corrections departments around the
nation. Landry says it seemed to have an impact on the
senators.
"That really does concern me. It'd be interesting to
find out what misconduct they had."
The Senate vote against expanding the number of private
prisons was unexpected, although private companies still
operate seven Florida prisons.