Prison privatization plan now goes to Senate floor

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Senate budget committee on Wednesday approved a version of a South Florida prison privatization plan, but the measure is now breaking allegiances on both sides of the aisle.

Budget chair JD Alexander also upset many in the audience by calling a vote before any public comment, causing a chorus of people to start yelling, "Shame!" The Lake Wales Republican did, however, meet with the measure's opponents afterward.

The committee voted 14-4 for the bill (CS/SB 2038). Two Democrats — Gary Siplin of Orlando and Gwen Margolis of Miami — joined the Republican majority. A House panel cleared a similar bill this week.

Republican Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey joining Democratic Sens. Bill Montford of Tallahassee, Nan Rich of Weston and Eleanor Sobel of Hollywood to vote no.

"I'm not against privatization," Fasano said. "But to privatize public safety is dangerous." Especially, he added, when it would privatize all prisons "from Orlando south."

Fasano also chairs the subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice appropriations, which put the Hillsborough Correctional Institution back into the state budget. Gov. Rick Scott had slated that facility for closure this year, along with 10 others, citing a declining prison population. The closed prisons are not part of the privatization plan.

Sen. John Thrasher, who championed the bill in the rules committee, said prison privatization already has been vetted and the "evidence is (that) we're going to save money."

Prison privatization proponents say it guarantees savings that can be put toward education and public health. Estimates show that figure at $22 million to $45 million a year. The bill requires at least 7 percent savings.

Correctional workers still oppose the idea. They say the plan will put state employees out of work and reduce public and inmate safety.

The Legislature first passed a South Florida prison-privatization plan last year. But the Florida Police Benevolent Association, the union that formerly represented corrections officers, sued the state over it.

A judge ruled the plan was unconstitutional because it was approved as part of the annual budget and not as a separate law. Attorney General Pam Bondi is appealing the judge's decision.

The bill now heads to the full Senate for debate. When asked if the bill would survive a floor vote, Alexander hesitated.

"I believe the votes are there but you never know" until the vote is called, he said.

Alexander later met with about 30 opponents of prison privatization who didn't get a chance to speak at the hearing.

Corrections officer Penny Reeder, a 12-year veteran of Florida State Prison in Starke, said she felt lawmakers were trying to balance the state budget on the backs of hardworking corrections employees.

"Why's everybody picking on us?" she said. "It hurts."

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