Florida Senator’s attempt to stop prison privatization fails

Seeing as I've been watching the issue of prison privatization quite closely, this news is very disappointing.

Senator’s attempt to stop prison privatization fails

floridaindependent.com...

An attempt by state Sen. Mike Fasano to halt the Florida Senate’s push to privatize 27 Florida prisons failed today.

Fasano, R-New Port Richey, had introduced an amendment that would have stricken the state’s plans to privatize prisons and instead required the Legislature to “conduct a thorough and complete financial impact analysis of the costs and benefits of privatizing and closing prisons in this state.” Fasano has said many times that he believes not enough is known about the fiscal impact of the state’s plans, and he has pushed for leaders in the Senate to slow down the process.

“This is a major policy decision and there has been no analysis done,” Fasano told his colleagues on the Senate floor.

I see nothing good coming out of privatizing prisons. It will open the door to prisoner abuse and violating one's civil rights. I also worry that borderline punishments will be experimented with by those who are in it for the money and don't care if they are violating the clause prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment stated within the Constitution.

Originally posted by Afterthought

I see nothing good coming out of privatizing prisons

Agree 100%.

Almost all businesses will do anything to stay in business.

That is a bad thing.

The prison industrial complex has been a free labor market for awhile now in the states.

watch?v=Q4pKqWuYuQQ

Go to 6:28 in this video lecture series from Michael Ruppert and listen to what he has to say about the privatization of prisons. Just couldn't be more apropos to this thread. I was literally just watching it, hit pause and checked in here to see what people were saying when I saw this posted. Peace all...

I would estimate half of those incarcerated in FL are there for small quantity cannabis charges. Makes you wonder if this is a part of the reason FL legislature is giving the residents a hard time about their current medical cannabis bills.

I mean hey how can you line the pockets of the officials on the private prison feed back loop if they get ride of half their inmates, or um slave labor force.

Private prisons leads to interest groups lobbying the Government for longer sentencing which in turn increases business. Throwing people away to make money is just not the point of the whole thing.

Sad to see another place jump on the private prison bandwagon.

reply to post by BBobb


Thanks for the video!

Privatization is a bad idea by a terrible Governor. Scott is a first class idiot. Here is a great idea lets see what happens when a company needs to make 4th quarter profits so reduces staffing/guards and see what happens.

This is an interesting website:
privatizationofprisons.com...

No surprise here!

Florida is Leader

Florida in 1981 became the first state to contract out the entire state prison industry to private management. Prison Rehabilitative Industries & Diversified Enterprises Inc. (PRIDE), a firm based in Clearwater, Florida, now manages all 53 Florida prison work programs as a for profit operation. PRIDE made a $4 million profit last year. Many states considering privatization of prison industries are studying the PRIDEoperation. PRIDE employs only inmates who want to work. As such, work is viewed as an opportunity rather than a punishment. PRIDE pays 60 percent of the workers' wages directly to the state government to defray the costs of imprisonment. PRIDE products, which range from optical and dental items to modular office systems, are sold to the local and state government agencies.

Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah already have passed enabling legislation to privatize the operation of prisons. States considering legislation are Indiana, Kentucky, and Minnesota.Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), based in Nashville, Tennessee, and founded in 1983, is the largest private corrections organization in the country. A spinoff of Hospital Corporation of America, CCA designs, constructs, finances, and manages both secure and non-secure facilities. In addition to operating two juvenile centers and a county prison in Hamilton County, Tennessee, CCA also contracts with Florida, New Mexico, and Texas.In 1985, CCA proposed to operate the entire Tennessee state correctional system for 99 years. Governor Lamar Alexander supported the idea. It was blocked, however, by lobbying by some state officials and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. Nevertheless, CCA continues to be the nation's leading innovator of private prison operations and is expanding its marketing activities in Iowa, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.Also located in Tennessee is Pricor Corporation, a competitor of CCA. Pricor operates a juvenile detention center in Johnson City, Tennessee, a 144 bed prison in Alabama, and a county jail in Maine.

The privatization of juvenile facilities scares the crap out me.

A lot of this legislation is started and lobbyed by ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).

They have major players that actually write the proposals for State politicians.

"Read between the lines"
Prison Overcrowding


The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor


New Exposé Tracks ALEC-Private Prison Industry Effort to Replace Unionized Workers with Prison Labor


Private prison company’s growth went hand-in-hand with political influence


Corrections Corporation of America

reply to post by xuenchen


Thanks for adding that info.
Regarding the CCA, here's a thread I wrote about how they are going to be running an immigration detention center they plan on building in Florida.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Just as the Senator stated in this thread's article:

Fasano warned his colleagues that they were “moving this thing forward too fast”

He's absolutely correct.

reply to post by Afterthought


Hey, thanks for embedding that vid properly. I noticed mine didn't come up and you were very cool about the way you put it up without making a big deal out of it. I just wanted people to share in it. So, if you get this reply, shoot me a quick U2U or response in this thread and give me a quick tutorial about how to embed properly. I'm pretty new to this site, haven't even made my first post yet, so I'd like to get it right for the future. Again, thanks...