Scott Names Prisons Chief

December 29, 2010

Gov.-elect Rick Scott on Tuesday named an Indiana prisons official to head Florida’s system, potentially impacting facilitates like the Century Correctional Institution.

Scott named Indiana Corrections Commissioner Edwin Buss to head the Florida Department of Corrections, a high profile – and high pressure – pick because he’ll be expected to help figure out how to slash as much as $1 billion from the agency’s budget over the next seven years.

Scott’s choice to replace Walt McNeil as secretary of corrections, Buss, has dealt with prison overcrowding in Indiana, where the inmate population has grown but no new prisons have been built since 2002.

Buss has suggested that part of the problem there has been lawmakers toughening sentencing laws without thinking of the crowding consequences.

“The problem with our criminal justice system is it’s all anecdotal,” Buss said in an interview with the Corrections Reporter earlier this year. “You have some crime that is horrendous in a community and then, of course, the lawmakers come back and everything results in a new crime.

“Just in the last 10 years, there’s been 117 new crimes or enhancements. . . . We haven’t eliminated a crime. We haven’t looked at redundancy,” Buss continued. “This is significant. I think it’s huge.”

As head of Indiana Corrections, Buss oversees 7,500 employees and 26,000 inmates. Buss’ prior experience included stints supervising two state prisons, during which time he revamped the state’s death penalty procedure. Florida’s prison system, by comparison, holds four times as many inmates – over 102,000 in 146 facilities – with about 160,000 more monitored on probation or parole.

“Given the transformation and pro-taxpayer improvements over the last few years, it was inevitable that other states would come after top talent like Ed Buss,” Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a statement. “He was actively pursued by several new governors. Congratulations to Gov.-elect Scott for winning the sweepstakes.”

Industry representatives say Buss is familiar with re-entry programs and dealing with tight budgets, experience that bodes well for the state, said George Camp, executive director of the Association of State Correctional Administrators.

“He is one of the bright lights in the corrections community,” Camp said. “He’s invested a lot of his time and energy on re-entry programs and reinvesting in community corrections to improve public safety.”

Buss will immediately be under the spotlight, coming to head the prisons agency at a time when Scott has targeted it for $1 billion in cuts over seven years.

By Michael Peltier
The News Service Florida

Comments

One Response to “Scott Names Prisons Chief”

  1. Clinton Curly Brooks on December 30th, 2010 10:06 pm

    Well,here we go,ya’ll.Hope for the best.

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