Florida Governor Rick Scott has taken aim at the state's prison system as the target of his latest budget cut proposals. The Department of Corrections' annual budget is currently a whopping $2.4 billion, and Scott wants to cut a total of $1 billion from the department's budget over the next seven years.
The current prison system in Florida has its share of issues. The penal code claims that punishment is its "primary purpose" and that rehabilitation is a secondary goal. Less than one percent of the $2.4 billion corrections budget is spend on rehabilitation services such as substance abuse programs, education and vocational studies. Currently, 20% of inmates receive mental health care, and more than half of Florida's 101,000 inmates read below the sixth grade level.
Under the current system, inmates must serve at least 85% of their prison terms; parole was abolished in the 1980s. When inmates are released, they receive a ticket home and $100, but almost no job skills. The state's recidivism rate is 33%, meaning that one third of released inmates will be back in the system within three years.
Governor Scott's proposed reforms aim to improve the current issues with the system - and close the state's $4 billion deficit. He dismissed many of the senior employees at the Department of Corrections and hired Edwin Buss, former Indiana commissioner of corrections, to run the department. Scott initially introduced a plan to release 10,000 inmates on good behavior and close 10 of the state's prisons, an extreme measure that was unpopular with lawmakers.
More recently, Scott laid out a plan to transfer 2,000 inmates from state prisons to private prisons, which the governor projects would save the state $135 million in the first year alone. With additional retirement benefit modifications, the plan would save the state $216 million the second and subsequent years. Scott plans to use part of the savings to invest in re-entry, education and drug prevention plans to try to combat the high recidivism rate. If the programs keep offenders from reentering the prison system they will save the state money down the road, and help all inmates, whether in prison on drug charges or robbery.
Although Scott's reforms have their critics, the governor's cuts would move the budget deficit in the right direction. If the reforms also help improve the job skills and education of inmates, Scott's proposal would also move the state of Florida's prison system into the twenty-first century.
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