Florida Senate Scales Back Prison Closure Plan wuft.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wuft.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Florida Senate scales back prison closure plan
The revised Senate plan would require Florida to shut down one prison by the end of the year.
Â
Â
Mark. S, Inch, Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, at the State Capitol, May, 1, 2019. [ SCOTT KEELER | Tampa Bay Times ]
By Dara Kam
Updated Apr. 7
TALLAHASSEE â The Florida Senate is easing back on a plan to shutter and demolish four state prisons, agreeing Wednesday to a proposal that would close a single, 1,500-bed correctional institution by Dec. 31.
The prison consolidation and closure plan is included in the Senateâs $95 billion state budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Leaders in small counties where many prisons are located have pushed back against possible closures, saying that the institutions are economic drivers in financially strapped regions.
Some of them are beyond rust. (Florida state prisons)
A plan to shutter up to four state prisons is alarming officials in Florida’s rural regions where correctional institutions have played an outsized role in providing jobs and supporting businesses for decades.
Senate President Wilton Simpson’s proposal to consolidate prisons and demolish four facilities drew bipartisan pushback when it was released recently as lawmakers began to piece together next year’s state budget.
Simpson, R-Trilby, has defended consolidation and closures, saying the plan is designed to resuscitate a prison system in crisis. The Department of Corrections for years has grappled with decaying infrastructure, an exceedingly high worker turnover rate and staffing vacancies so dire they now pose security threats to employees and inmates.
Rural leaders worry about devastating prison closures - Florida Trend floridatrend.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from floridatrend.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Senate President Wilton Simpson's proposal to consolidate prisons and demolish four facilities drew opposition from leaders in those rural communities.