Florida is already forging down the path Georgia wants to follow
on private prisons.
Steve Bousquet

writes in the Miami Herald:

The Florida Legislature’s push to privatize many more prisons, its
most far-reaching cost-cutting plan in years, could open a lucrative
door to politically connected vendors who stand to profit.

Senate and House budgets require the state to privatize prisons in
South Florida, home to one-fifth of the statewide inmate population
of 101,000. The region is the home of the GEO Group, the nation’s
second-largest private prison operator, which currently runs two private
prisons, including the largest private lockup, the Blackwater River
Correctional Facility in Milton.

Why is this path so popular with the Florida legislature?

The Boca Raton company, a reliable contributor to the Republican party,
employs more than 2,000 people and a stable of 16 Capitol lobbyists. It
donated $25,000 to Gov. Rick Scott’s inaugural celebration in
January. A top transition budget adviser to Scott, Donna Arduin, is a
former trustee of a GEO real estate company, Correctional Properties
Trust. The company’s healthcare subsidiary, GEO Care, is led by Jorge
Dominicis, a familiar figure in the Capitol from years of lobbying for
the sugar industry.

So how is privatizing prisons supposed to save money?

In recent testimony before the Senate, Dominicis touted the advantages of
privatization and said his firm achieves savings through higher staffing
ratios — more inmates per staff member.

Hm, I wonder if that will cause any problems with prison conditions.

Not to mention public safety:

As a half-dozen GEO lobbyists looked on, James Baiardi, president of the
PBA [Florida Police Benevolent Association]’s correctional officers
chapter, argued the privatization plan would be dangerous.

“The prisons in Miami-Dade and Broward counties handle some of the
worst inmates in the state,” he said. “To take that and just turn
it over to a private company is just unreal.”

Dangerous criminals handed over to private contractors who want to
cut the number of guards per inmate; what could possibly go wrong?

What’s this got to do with Lowndes County, Georgia, specifically?

GEO’s main competitors are Corrections Corporation of America,
the nation’s largest private prison operator, and Management and
Training Corp.

CCA, the company that wants to build a private prison in
Lowndes County, Georgia (and Decatur County);

Georgia’s “great partner”.

Do we really want Lowndes County to help Georgia follow Florida
down this private prison path?

-jsq