Advertisement

Editorial: Smart ideas for reforming Florida prisons

 
A new report from a group committed to prison reform in Florida presents a number of good suggestions that could foster change in the beleaguered Department of Corrections that this week lost its sixth chief in eight years.
A new report from a group committed to prison reform in Florida presents a number of good suggestions that could foster change in the beleaguered Department of Corrections that this week lost its sixth chief in eight years.
Published Nov. 28, 2014

A new report from a group committed to prison reform in Florida presents a number of good suggestions that could foster change in the beleaguered Department of Corrections that this week lost its sixth chief in eight years. While outgoing Secretary Michael Crews has been working to fix some of the considerable problems, this report suggests his reforms fall short of what is necessary to create a new culture of accountability. Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature should review the report carefully and consider how some of its recommendations could improve the penal system.

There are more than 100,000 inmates in Florida prisons. The department came under fire this year after the Miami Herald detailed reports of inmate abuse by corrections officers, unexplained inmate deaths and other officer-involved scandals. In one 2012 case, officers at the Dade Correctional Institution in Homestead allegedly put a mentally ill prisoner into a scalding hot shower for nearly two hours. The prisoner, Darren Rainey, had defecated in his cell and refused to clean it up. When the officers removed Rainey from the shower, chunks of his skin had fallen off. He died from his injuries.

Crews, who announced this week he is leaving after about two years, has taken steps to root out the problems, including implementing a zero-tolerance policy for criminal behavior by corrections officers. But the Project on Accountable Justice at Florida State University contends the agency's issues are systemic and go beyond the areas Crews has targeted. In its report, the group calls on Florida to implement best practices from other states, including setting up a public oversight commission that would have the authority to inspect prisons, scour inmate and employee records and examine department policies and budgets. Other suggestions include creating a plan to employ a more professional workforce and holding the department accountable through the use of performance measurement tools.

Problems within the DOC are legion, and the challenge of implementing reforms across such a large, cloistered agency is significant. There is a moral argument that prisoners, regardless of their crime, should be treated with dignity and kept safe while incarcerated. The department also should focus greater attention on equipping inmates with the tools necessary to be successful once they are released from prison, which could help close the revolving door that sees nearly one-third of released inmates return to prison within three years.

Florida's $2.3 billion corrections system is too costly, and taxpayer money would be better spent providing education, health care and job training for inmates. There also is room to consider the compassionate release of elderly inmates, particularly those with life-threatening infirmities who pose little danger to society but weigh heavily upon prison resources. While far from a panacea, the new report provides thoughtful solutions to the state's prison problem. The key to solving lingering issues within the Department of Corrections is not to build more prisons but to pursue comprehensive reform and proper oversight systems that remain in place regardless of who is leading the department.