Florida Senate says no to a propsal that what would have been the largest private prison contract ever in any state. The third ranking lock em up state even in the midst of dire budgetary woes rejected (21-19) what proponents of privatization projected would slash $16.5 million on prison spending where.
"Florida would have moved 14,500 inmates from more than two dozen prisons and work camps into company-run facilities. The state, with a total budget of $69.6 billion, spends $268 million a year to run the lockups with 3,800 workers, according to a legislative analysis."
Geo blames prison worker unions' lobbying effort for styming the bill, and is calling upon an apparently reluctuant Governor Rick Scott (R) to move forward via executive order. Hopefully that will not happen in Florida. Though there is a real risk that Geo and other profiteers will swoop in offering false and myopic stablility to other fiscally wobbly state budgetary committees desperate to cut corners.
The point on the power of prison worker unions is for another day. That aside, this is pretty huge. Hopefully Rick Scott will listen to the legislature, and other eager states will take not let Geo and others continue to kick people while they're down.
Read about it on Bloomberg
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