Florida lawmakers didn’t fix prisons. They may wish they had | Opinion
It’s not easy to muster public sympathy or political support for a purpose linked to a group that includes murderers, rapists and child molesters. So the 2024 Legislature’s refusal to adequately address festering problems within the state’s massive prison system was not a total surprise.
Even so, the failure to act responsibly was doubly shameful because the Legislature was well aware of the problems, They were outlined in a state-commissioned report by the KPMG consulting firm. You can read it here.
KPMG had recommended $2 billion in spending right away to begin addressing some of the more pressing problems. Instead, in the $117 billion state budget, the Department of Corrections will get $100 million now and maybe more in the future to deal with these urgent needs.
Why did the legislation supporting the KPMG report’s recommended level of spending — and several bills proposing other prison reforms — fail to advance? Maybe the problem was the way they were presented.
For instance, some of the resistance to the proposed reforms may have been attributable to the sponsors’ rhetoric demanding more respect for the “rights” of persons whose conduct had caused them to be stripped of many — though not all — of the legal rights enjoyed by law-abiding citizens.
Regarding the resistance to the large price tag, it arguably may have been related to the fact that much of the discussion of it focused on one key recommendation: providing $582 million to air condition more inmate housing.
KPMG’s master plan also warned that the system will need billions more in future years to rehabilitate aging structures and build new prisons — including one near Homestead — to accommodate the projected increase in the inmate population.
As for ensuring the prisoners’ year-round comfort, it’s not necessarily high on the priority list of ordinary Floridians troubled by reports of violent crime and plagued the high cost of housing, insurance and health care.
Moreover, many older Floridians can remember growing up in non-air-conditioned homes, and lots of military veterans can recall sweating in tents, barracks and foxholes. Some may wonder why they should care whether prisoners are comfortable.
Nonetheless, there are valid reasons to air condition Florida’s prisons, if not so much for the inmates’ comfort as for the comfort and safety of the employees.
Recruiting competent employees to work in such an uncomfortable — and often dangerous — environment is a tough enough challenge in the current labor market, despite recent raises for prison staff. And hiring incompetent thugs such as those who’ve brutally abused inmates is not a viable solution.
Moreover, the last thing Florida needs now is an outbreak of prison violence like the 1971 riot at the penitentiary in Attica, New York. Ten corrections officers and 29 prisoners died, and the state later had to spend $24 million to settle lawsuits.
Criminologists say forcing people to swelter in extreme heat can contribute to a social environment that’s ripe for violence while also harming the physical, mental and emotional health of inmates whose care in those areas has been inadequately funded and poorly staffed year after year.
Prison reform advocates also remind us that some of Florida’s prison inmates merely violated probation, repeatedly wrote bad checks, or were sentenced under Draconian drug laws whose penalties were subsequently reduced or eliminated. Many others have mental health problems that led to their brushes with the law.
Most inmates will eventually rejoin society, if only temporarily, in a state where the recidivism rate remains high because the prison system does little other than warehouse them for the duration of their sentences.
The least the lawmakers who work in the cool comfort of Florida’s Capitol should do when confronted with this crisis is to take it seriously because, given the rise in political corruption enhanced by the growing lack of transparency, some of them may eventually end up sweating in cells they’ll wish were not so hot.
Robert F. Sanchez, of Tallahassee, is a former member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. He writes for the Herald’s conservative opinion newsletter, Right to the Point.
