{"id":2201,"date":"2011-04-11T09:27:57","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T13:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/georgia-following-florida-down-the-private-prison-path.html"},"modified":"2011-04-11T09:27:57","modified_gmt":"2011-04-11T13:27:57","slug":"georgia-following-florida-down-the-private-prison-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/georgia-following-florida-down-the-private-prison-path.html","title":{"rendered":"Georgia following Florida down the private prison path"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida is already forging down the path Georgia wants to follow
\non private prisons.
\nSteve Bousquet
\n
\nwrites in the Miami Herald:<\/a><\/p>\n

\nThe Florida Legislature\u2019s push to privatize many more prisons, its
\nmost far-reaching cost-cutting plan in years, could open a lucrative
\ndoor to politically connected vendors who stand to profit.<\/p>\n

\nSenate and House budgets require the state to privatize prisons in
\nSouth Florida, home to one-fifth of the statewide inmate population
\nof 101,000. The region is the home of the GEO Group, the nation\u2019s
\nsecond-largest private prison operator, which currently runs two private
\nprisons, including the largest private lockup, the Blackwater River
\nCorrectional Facility in Milton.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why is this path so popular with the Florida legislature?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThe Boca Raton company, a reliable contributor to the Republican party,
\nemploys more than 2,000 people and a stable of 16 Capitol lobbyists. It
\ndonated $25,000 to Gov. Rick Scott\u2019s inaugural celebration in
\nJanuary. A top transition budget adviser to Scott, Donna Arduin, is a
\nformer trustee of a GEO real estate company, Correctional Properties
\nTrust. The company\u2019s healthcare subsidiary, GEO Care, is led by Jorge
\nDominicis, a familiar figure in the Capitol from years of lobbying for
\nthe sugar industry.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So how is privatizing prisons supposed to save money?<\/p>\n

\nIn recent testimony before the Senate, Dominicis touted the advantages of
\nprivatization and said his firm achieves savings through higher staffing
\nratios — more inmates per staff member.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hm, I wonder if that will cause any problems with prison conditions.<\/p>\n

\nNot to mention public safety:<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a>
\nAs a half-dozen GEO lobbyists looked on, James Baiardi, president of the
\nPBA [Florida Police Benevolent Association]\u2019s correctional officers
\nchapter, argued the privatization plan would be dangerous.<\/p>\n

\n“The prisons in Miami-Dade and Broward counties handle some of the
\nworst inmates in the state,” he said. “To take that and just turn
\nit over to a private company is just unreal.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dangerous criminals handed over to private contractors who want to
\ncut the number of guards per inmate; what could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n

\nWhat’s this got to do with Lowndes County, Georgia, specifically?<\/p>\n

\nGEO\u2019s main competitors are Corrections Corporation of America,
\nthe nation\u2019s largest private prison operator, and Management and
\nTraining Corp.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CCA, the company that wants to build a private prison in
\nLowndes County, Georgia (and Decatur County);
\n
\nGeorgia’s “great partner”.<\/a><\/p>\n

\nDo we really want Lowndes County to help Georgia follow Florida
\ndown this private prison path?<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida is already forging down the path Georgia wants to follow on private prisons. Steve Bousquet writes in the Miami Herald: The Florida Legislature\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,1113,203,19,72,73,178],"tags":[4748,8817,1153,4747,1114,1031,8751,3846,8701,4749,7,4746,4751,4750,218,8731],"class_list":["post-2201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-cca","category-florida","category-history","category-incarceration","category-safety","category-vlcia","tag-broward-county","tag-cca","tag-corruption","tag-dade-county","tag-decatur-county","tag-efficiency","tag-florida","tag-geo","tag-georgia","tag-james-baiardi","tag-lowndes-county","tag-miami","tag-pba","tag-police-benevolent-association","tag-profit","tag-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}