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"prison guard tower" by Rennet Stowe on flickr
Florida’s Misguided Privatization Push
"prison guard tower" by Rennet Stowe on flickr
But it’s not just the headlong dive into privatization that’s got me concerned. In addition to giving this blatant handout to an industry that donated $1,000,000 in the last election cycle, the state Legislature has just gutted the agency charged with overseeing medical care for the state’s prisoners. JD Alexander, who has been arguably the biggest proponent of privatizing the states’ prisons since he tried to ram through a last-minute budget amendment last year forcing the state to send more prisoners to private facilities, is the Chairman of the Budget Committee that failed to appropriate funds for the agency. So not only is the state handing over operations of prisons to private companies, it also failed to fund an agency that would have some oversight over an industry notorious for being able to evade it.
Making matters worse, Governor Scott’s office just pressured state DOC officials to cancel a contract with a separate monitor who was set to oversee the state’s planned privatization of even more prisoner health care. Just to make it clear, the state is also looking to privatize medical care for thousands of prisoners, in addition to privatizing much of the state system; this lady would have overseen that medical care. But as with all conservative political maneuverings designed to steer power and taxpayer dollars away from government and into private hands, the powers that be decided having any sort of effective oversight that could produce some accountability would be bad for business’ bottom lines, so they eliminated the threat. Granted, she probably would not have been a great or even unbiased monitor, because her husband works for the ACA, but some oversight has to be better than nothing.
So – Florida is going to privatize correctional services for thousands of prisoners, costing thousands of state jobs and millions of dollars that taxpayers must foot the bill for. The same politicians who were bought off with $1 million worth of campaign contributions have stripped oversight agencies and individuals of power so that these new prisons can abuse people without scrutiny. But what about the contracts to be awarded? Surely, the state wouldn’t turn over all these services to one single company, which would totally undermine the conservative argument of competition increasing the viability of the marketplace, right? Wrong. The state wants to give all the contracts to one company. So now one company will now be in control of several hundred million dollars worth of state contracts.
If this strikes you as rather bizarre, foolish, and seemingly corrupt, you’re not alone. It turns out the FBI concurs with us. They have launched an investigation into the overt corruption that has plagued this deal since before it was even hatched. See, the former Speaker of the House, Ray Sansom, is currently serving time in federal prison for corruption and bribery charges after he, as Budget Chairman (JD Alexander’s current role) tried to force through a last-minute budget amendment forcing the state to fund a private prison (sound familiar?), which ended up costing the state $140 million. This came after he had taken a “personal” trip to Boca Raton, home of the GEO Group, which donated more than $800,000 in this past election and was awarded the contract for the prison Sansom got built. Sansom claims he met with legislators on that trip and it wasn’t related to the $140 million facility he got funded, but he can’t remember which legislators.
Thankfully, the FBI seems to be seriously investigating this absurd situation. Unfortunately though for Ed Buss, secretary of the state’s DOC, their intervention did not come soon enough. Buss was forced to resign last week because he was not supportive enough of Governor Scott’s and JD Alexander’s push to privatize half of his system. Buss had warned the Governor and Budget Chairman of the $25 million that taxpayer would be on the hook for if the privatization plan moved ahead, and basically lost his job because he, as the head of the department of corrections, thought it would be a bad idea to privatize correctional services. He has already been defended by State Senator Paula Dockery, who questions the privatization push and the message Buss’ ouster will send to other members of the Scott administration. She properly points out that the privatization effort is about more than “saving money,” as JD Alexander would say. ”‘It’s not only not going to save money, it’s going to affect public safety,’ she said. ‘It’s more than just money. It’s a complete change in policy.’”
I just hope Governor Scott keeps that in mind and stays true to his word, because he recently remarked that “If [the privatization plan] does not save money, then we won’t do it.” Well Mr. Scott, let me be the first to tell you you will not save money, and you are taking a very risky gamble on public safety and the integrity of your state’s government in this process. I sincerely hope you reconsider this misguided push to privatize your prisons.
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PUBLIClY HELD ASSETS WHETHER THEY ARE MUSEUM PIECES OR UTILITIES SHOULD NOT BE UP FOR SALE TO THE HIGHEST PRIVATE CORPORATE BIDDER!
Privatization–selling out public institutions to private interests is NOT the panacea that its Wall Street opportunists present it to be. There is no job creation planned for the next few years in the USA and this is intentional planning on the part of the elected officials in Washington. It will give the rich more opportunity to deregulate industry and choke off federal support for public services.
Cities and states across the nation are selling and leasing everything from airports to zoos — a fire sale that could help plug budget holes now but worsen their financial woes over the long run,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “California is looking to shed state office buildings. Milwaukee has proposed selling its water supply; in Chicago and New Haven, Conn., its parking meters. In Louisiana and Georgia, airports are up for grabs.”
Florida is not the only one learning a lesson. The people of Fenton CA found that our when London-based Thames Water took over their water supply. In Nov of 2002, these corporate thugs proposed a 74% rate increase over 3 years.
Felton residents formed Friends of Locally Owned Water (FLOW), and with legal help from Santa Cruz County, fought the rate increase
Their efforts were successful, and the ballot initiative won with nearly 75 percent of the vote. SLVWD then proposed to buy the water system for $7.6 million, but Cal-Am/RWE refused to sell. So SLVWD pursued eminent domain to force a buyout. Just before the case was to go to jury trial, the company settled with SLVWD. Today, with Felton’s water back in the hands of a public utility, the average resident’s bill has dropped by at least 50 percent. FLOW has calculated that even with the tax increase, most residents are already saving as much as $400 per year.
so see, taxes and public ownership are not always the expensive path that some purport them to be.
However, conservatives never seem to concerned with how much their bogus strategies wind up costing the state.
I can’t believe you said this but as I read on you did point out how much money is kicked back to the repugs. It has nothing to do about saving money but how much can they get for friends. Greed Is Good;)
Yep I followed this story and thanks. The city Stockton, Calif. tried the same thing and less than 5yrs bought back the system. There was rate increases but No upgrades and just 5yrs with no maint. they had to play catch up.