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Editorial: Cash needed to improve state prisons

 
An independent audit should be more than enough evidence to convince lawmakers that their strategy on prisons has been penny-wise and pound-foolish and is responsible for much of the chaos inside the nation’s third-largest prison system.
An independent audit should be more than enough evidence to convince lawmakers that their strategy on prisons has been penny-wise and pound-foolish and is responsible for much of the chaos inside the nation’s third-largest prison system.
Published Dec. 10, 2015

An independent audit confirms much of what has surfaced recently about the dismal condition of Florida's prison system. Auditors found that a lack of funding, training and adequate staffing is contributing to severe problems at the Department of Corrections. The auditors correctly lay the blame for the crisis at the feet of the Legislature, which has starved prisons for years. This should be more than enough evidence to convince lawmakers that their strategy has been penny-wise and pound-foolish and is responsible for much of the chaos inside the nation's third-largest prison system.

In its "Study of Operations of the Florida Department of Corrections," auditors found evidence of gross underfunding in state prisons. Turnover among corrections officers has increased by 50 percent in the last six years, leaving half of all guards with less than three years of experience. The report cites low salaries as a primary reason for the department's inability to keep experienced officers who leave for similar, higher-paying jobs in county jails. Prison employees also defect to other states where corrections officers can earn up to 61 percent higher pay than in Florida, which pays guards an average starting salary of about $32,000 a year. The report also found weaknesses in prison security resulting from personnel shortages and structural deficiencies such as the lack of perimeter fencing, leaving facilities vulnerable to escape attempts.

The $300,000 audit was conducted by CGL, a prison consulting firm in Sacramento, Calif., at the behest of the Legislature. It is money well spent. Lawmakers should need no more proof that their repeated budget cutting has weighed heavily on the department's ability to run safe, effective prisons. The data was compiled by surveying inmates and 284 staffers over a three-month period this fall at 14 Florida prisons and administrative headquarters.

Though the contents of the audit are disturbing, there are few surprises. A series of reports by the Miami Herald had previously laid bare the massive failings of the Department of Corrections and revealed an agency in disarray and rife with corrupt guards, mounting claims of inmate abuse and unexplained inmate deaths. Blocked by Gov. Rick Scott, the Legislature failed in its attempt last session to set up an independent commission to oversee the prison system. But lawmakers have called for meaningful reform in the agency, which has started to take place. But those efforts are simply not enough, and the Legislature and prison officials cannot let up. In the 2016 legislative session, prison reform should be a top priority that receives significant financial resources and attention. Scott proposes hiring an additional 472 correctional officers and spending another $36 million on repairs and renovations to prisons, a good start that lawmakers should improve upon.

Auditors made several recommendations in the report, including revising the department's use of force policy and calling for a ban on tobacco products in prisons, which should significantly reduce the flow of contraband brought into lockup by employees. Any new efforts also should address the lack of programming aimed at rehabilitating inmates, who will need every skill they can get to have a reasonable chance at leading lives as law-abiding citizens after they are released. In all, the audit provides a clear-eyed look at the condition of Florida's prisons and suggests several meaningful ways forward. Lawmakers need to do more than take note. They need to take action.