Federal Grand Jury Investigation of GEO Group

All the commotion earlier this year over the failed attempt to privatize 29 correctional facilities in the state of Florida sort of overshadowed the seedy history of prison privatization in the state.  You may recall from before that the FBI had launched an investigation into the circumstances that led a few powerful budget committee members to try to force through last-minute amendments to force the privatization of the Blackwater Correctional Facility, a GEO Group prison.  Kind of the same way they tried to force through the 29-facility privatization plan in a last-minute budget amendment (a deal that a court ruled was illegal according to state law).

Now the probe has developed further, with a federal grand jury reviewing evidence of corruption on the part of former Speaker of the Florida House, Ray Sansom and his dealing with the GEO Group leading up to the construction of the prison.  This whole situation is a hot mess that will hopefully reveal the rampant corruption in the state’s politics and encourage future Florida politicians to resist efforts to privatize their prison system.