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Florida Looks At Texas Prisons For Advice
January 25, 2011
Florida lawmakers turned to Texas on Monday for ideas on how to keep prisoners locked up at a time when the state faces a $3.6 billion budget deficit and cuts, including in the public safety budget, appear likely.
The scenario portrayed by the corrections officers’ union when then-candidate Rick Scott started talking about slashing $1 billion from the prisons budget doesn’t appear likely. The ad by the Florida Police Benevolent Association called Scott’s plans “law enforcement’s worst nightmare, and featured one released prisoner saying, “Let’s Get to Work.”
It’s not just the governor’s office that says that’s just not likely to play out.
“Politically, you’re not going to open the door and let them out,” Texas state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, told a panel of lawmakers who help write the Senate criminal justice budget and consider new measures related to law and order.
Senate Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, and Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Greg Evers held the first of several scheduled meetings to take ideas on how the justice system could be reformed to reduce costs.
Their first guest, though was not a public safety official from the Sunshine State, but Madden, the chair of the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Corrections who received national recognition for his work in reducing prison costs.
“You could do things that were smart and, by the way, didn’t cost as much,” Madden said.
Cutting down on the number of repeat offenders taking up beds is one obvious answer, he said. During his two hour presentation to lawmakers, Madden pressed the importance of spending money on treatment programs for inmates who, if treated for addiction, could be reintroduced to society and have safe, productive futures. The money was better spent on these people who could be rehabilitated, whom he referred to as “swingers,” because they could go either way, instead of inmates who are incredibly violent.
“Spend your money on the swingers,” Madden said.
Fasano has already told members of his committee to expect a difficult session that will likely involve some cuts to the criminal justice system.
Scott has given some hints, saying that waste and efficiency are big targets, for example.
The Senate also already has a bit of a plan that involves expanded use of drug courts, faith-based prison units and electronic monitoring of prisoners kept in the commuity, all suggested as possibilities in a recent study by legislative analysts. Other possibilities that have been mentioned include lessening drug penalties, and trying to divert more would-be prisoners to mental health treatment.
The problem, some lawmakers said, is that the state needs the savings now, not a few years down the road. The state’s justice system has taken a hit over the past several years, particularly in the court system.
Dockets are overcrowded and cases that once took one to three months, now take more like six to nine months.
In some criminal cases, public attorneys are handling more than the suggested caseload by American Bar Association, drawing questions about the adequacy of representation.
Evers said he thought Madden’s presentation gave lawmakers a great place to start the discussion on reform, but wouldn’t speculate on the efficacy of any one particular plan going forward, simply saying that the Senate would look at a “lot of these” and that it should not be seen as backing away from punishing criminals.
“I don’t that we’re actually going in a different direction,” he said. “I just think that our pocketbook can’t afford just locking everybody up.”
Future committee meetings will include presentations from the Department of Corrections and vendors for private prisons. His committee will also tour a prison, he said.
Pictured: A guard tower rises above Century Correctional Institution. Pictured bottom inset: Razor wire lines a fence at Century Correctional Institute. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Story By Kathleen Haughney
The News Service Florida
Comments
14 Responses to “Florida Looks At Texas Prisons For Advice”
As a mother of an inmate at Century CI, I do agree that the inmates are there for a reason and should not be treated as if it were a five star hotel. However, I have witnessed and experienced problems within the prison system that should not be allowed. There is no reason for some inmates to receive the five star treatment while others are beaten, cursed at and treated worse than the devil himself. I don’t know how some of these officers can go home and sleep with the things they have done. Actually, they should be locked up for the things they have done. For instance, I reported things that have happened within the prison walls and then my son is then targeted by staff. Most people will not discuss problems they have had with their children involving drugs. I for one was the one who had my son arrested time and time again hoping I could get him some help that was out of reach for the average working person. You had to have plenty of money to afford the help. Now, I question my judgement???? Did I do the right thing having him arrested and pleading for help??? Or did I put the noose around his neck and put him where he is now??? I guess I’m telling all the
kingpin drug dealers “thank you” for destroying another one of our children for you to have a fat pocket. We all think we have the answers to rehabilitate those who have done wrong. Being cruel is not helping these inmates when or if they are ever released.
I wonder how many of the inmates in Florida are illegal aliens?
Could they be deported back to wherever they came from to reduce the load on our state system? Could they be turned over to their governments for them to keep imprisoned? Could the nations that the illegal aliens come from pay for keeping them in our prisons and jails?
Just wondering…
the trial determines where he goes and the conditions of his release–if any.
More importantly, it feeds the judicial machine and sells papers, advertising time on TV, and suchlike
I heard the case against the nut who killed thoses folks in az,with plenty of eyewitnesses,may take a year or more before it goes to trial. Why even have a trial,he”s guilty beyond any doubt. Trials should be reserved for folks when there is reasonable doubt..Either go ahead and throw him in a mental hospital or jail for life and save the expense of a trial.
I’ve always been fascinated by our legal system and wanted to be an attorney. I’ve watched many trials, as a witness, as a juror, as a friend and as a curious onlooker. There are so many things that go wrong, but we can’t begin to hold anyone accountable for honesty, integrity and ethical behavior when we can’t even hold our judges to those same ideals.
There is indeed a big difference between innocent and not proven guilty. One means you didn’t do it; the other, merely that they can’t prove you did.
REGARDING:
“Common forms of misconduct by prosecutors include:
• Withholding exculpatory evidence from defense
• Deliberately mishandling, mistreating or destroying evidence
• Allowing witnesses they know or should know are not truthful to testify
• Pressuring defense witnesses not to testify
• Relying on fraudulent forensic experts
• Making misleading arguments that overstate the probative value of testimony“
“But, Your Honor, this doesn’t really show he didn’t do it.”
Judge: “That’s for the jury to decide.”
“But, Your Honor, it was here a minute ago.”
Judge: “It’s your responsibility to keep up with it.”
(I’m sure a lot of criminals walked after Katrina and Ivan due to damaged evidence.)
“But, Your Honor, I thought he was going to tell the truth.”
(Actually, this one is hard to disprove, wonder how they did it.)
“Now you know, I’m going to have to bring up your history to give the jury a chance to weigh the reliability of your testimony.”
Witness(?): “Never mind.”
Again, they would be remiss to not do their best job and the jury actually does need to have some way to weigh credibility of witnesses.
“But, Your Honor, she’s served as an expert witness for years; I had no reason to believe she was making it all up.
Once again, part of the work of the defense. Noteworthy that OJ Simpson trial forced police and prosecution to be more careful with evidence and witnesses, shame they didn’t actually check the undisputable evidence, though.
Misleading arguments: “He is a member of The X Gang. Members of the X Gang sometimes commit murder. Therefore, he must have committed this murder.”
Things like that?
David for harsh punishment
of known infractions
on the part of prosecutors
just to keep ‘em honest
REGARDING:
“Now, how was that impartial? Aren’t they supposed to go into each trial with a fresh and open mind, no preconceived notions, and based ONLY on the evidence that is presented to them? Top it all off, the depositions, from both the participants AND the witnesses stated that this young man had NOTHING to do with the crime. I was very disappointed. I knew him to be a harsh judge but not an unethical one. I was proven wrong”
Yep, it surely is disappointing when the world turns out to be less than perfect. That’s part of the reason I try to avoid judges and charges. They are less likely to do you in if they never see you.
Treatment of judges is a real problem. When the framers of the Constitution were working on it, they realized they had to remove judges from the political process if possible. After doing so, they realized some judges should have never held office in the first place but very hard to get rid of them. That’s why Florida has votes on retention. This in turn raises the chance that some judges will rule unjustly, even if only slightly so, because they don’t want to incur the wrath of misunderstanding voters.
Innocence project looks for likely candidates to prove innocence or at least disprove guilt–not exactly the same thing.
David for omniscient saints
David,
Check out the Innocence Project:
Common forms of misconduct by prosecutors include:
• Withholding exculpatory evidence from defense
• Deliberately mishandling, mistreating or destroying evidence
• Allowing witnesses they know or should know are not truthful to testify
• Pressuring defense witnesses not to testify
• Relying on fraudulent forensic experts
• Making misleading arguments that overstate the probative value of testimony
Judges are supposed to be impartial but they aren’t always. I know of a recent case, by a recently retired Escambia County judge, in which the prosecutor dropped some very serious charges against a young man because the evidence showed that while he was there, he was actually trying to prevent a crime rather than participating in it. Because he was on the property when it happened, the DA only charged him with a misdemeanor trespass but stated in court that she wished to stipulate that this young man was NOT guilty of any actual wrongdoing. He was on probation when this happened so he still faced violation of probation charges. The DA said that she was agreeable to time served since he really didn’t do anything wrong, was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The judge said that he had blocked an entire week out of his calendar in order to try this case, that he had read over the files and depositions and that he was upset because the DA had dropped the charges. He then proceeded to sentence the young man to 5 years in prison, saying that he had to be taught that his behavior was unacceptable. Now, how was that impartial? Aren’t they supposed to go into each trial with a fresh and open mind, no preconceived notions, and based ONLY on the evidence that is presented to them? Top it all off, the depositions, from both the participants AND the witnesses stated that this young man had NOTHING to do with the crime. I was very disappointed. I knew him to be a harsh judge but not an unethical one. I was proven wrong.
REGARDING:
“It is estimated that 0.5% of prison inmates were wrongly convicted. That works out to being about 20,000 EVERY YEAR who are sent to prison for a crime they did NOT commit!!!”
I estimate it to be 5.978679%. Just joking but doing so to remind that an estimate is a guess, could be right, could be wrong. We aren’t told what evidence supports that estimate or how it applies to severity of crimes. (Mine came from randomly striking keys.)
That there ARE wrongful convictions is reasonably certain. Some people act like public defenders don’t care if their clients are found guilty. This could be true for some, but personal pride (and desire to move up in the legal profession?) would tend to make them want to win their clients’ cases if possible. Personal pride and desire for justice motivates prosecutors to get convictions for those they believe to be guilty.
Very few actually want the innocent convicted. Only the prosecutors want the guilty convicted. (Judges are, of course, impartial.) But that leads to the question: How many of the guilty are acquitted because we want to avoid wrongful convictions? If you release a murderer, rapist, child molester because there is some faint chance he is actually innocent, you release a murderer, rapist, child molester back on the general population to do it again and again.
That’s not good either.
David for perfect justice
If you want to be just about guaranteed a lost case,have a public defender appointed to you.They get paid whether they win or lose.Most of them are lazy and just wanting to draw a paycheck.I would like to see statistics on the public defenders that actually win cases.And a plea bargain is not a win.It makes the attorneys look good for getting the case of the judges docket.And it goes on the attorneys record as a positive.The judicial system is neither just nor fair .
You who,
How would you feel if you were innocent of those charges and you were beaten, tazed, etc? It happens all the time. It is estimated that 0.5% of prison inmates were wrongly convicted. That works out to being about 20,000 EVERY YEAR who are sent to prison for a crime they did NOT commit!!!
What about all the inmates on death row who are cleared by dna evidence or recanted witness statements? What if those people had been put to death the way you wanted? We would have murdered innocent people.
Prisons aren’t the picnic you think they are either. Prisoners are required to work unless there is a medical exemption and they are unable to do so. You must be out of the bed by a certain time. You may not lie on your bed during the day unless you have a medical exemption. Lights are out at a certain time and you do not get out of your bed without permission after that. You are in fear of being raped, beaten, or even killed at all times. You do not have privacy. There are no doors on the bathroom stalls or curtains on the shower stalls. Your business is hanging out for all the world to see. (That makes no sense to me that we would deprive them of sexual intimacy and then make them parade around in the nude in front of each other. Talk about asking for it!) There is not usually cable tv nor is there weight lifting machinery either. There’s next to nothing to read. We’re setting them up to be bored and restless and therefore, a danger to each other and to the prison staff.
There is at least one prison in Florida that IS self supporting. They make their own clothes, grow and can vegetables, etc.
We need to keep them busy and give them a skill that will give them the tools they need to make a living when they are released rather than cutting them loose with no way to support themselves. That’s why they wind up back in there. They either can’t support themselves or they just don’t know anything else. We need to teach them how to survive without crime. Just putting them in there and then being cruel and inhumane is only making them harder and more determined to “get back at” society as a whole. We turn them into career criminals. Instead of giving them the tools to succeed, we set them up to go back. It’s just plain stupid.
Admittedly there are some who deserve everything they get and more, but in order to protect the regular prisoners, we have to protect them all. There are no half measures.
“In some criminal cases, public attorneys are handling more than the suggested caseload by American Bar Association, drawing questions about the adequacy of representation.”
That’s a joke, right? There have been “questions about the adequacy of representation” for YEARS!!!! There are so many horror stories of people not meeting their public defenders until they are in court, stepping up to the podium, when up pops this person they’ve never seen telling the courts “we’re going to plead no contest, blah blah blah” and the defendant is asking “who in the heck IS this?” PDs will tell their clients not to fight a charge, despite their innocence, that they are better off to take a plea deal. It’s amazing that our justice system looks upon a plea of nolo contendre as a guilty plea, but if you have a public defender, they will tell you that you’re not pleading guilty but are simply saying that for whatever reason (such as suffering health problems like cancer, renal failure, etc), you cannot fight this charge at the present time. BUT….ask any judge or private attorney and he/she will tell you that it is, indeed, a guilty plea.
Despite popular public opinion, a public defender is not free either. A defendant must pay a $50 fee just for applying for their services and then another $50 fee if they represent them. In case any missed that, you pay $50 even if they do NOT represent them, just because they applied.
There’s a reason they are called PUBLIC PRETENDERS!!! They only pretend to care and they only pretend to help you.
All these cry babies that cried out when a prisoner got beat up or tazed this is the world you created. Welcome to the bleeding hearts world and I think you for that. You know who you are and you are as big of a problem as the prisoners. Death row inmateds should be put to death in less then a year and quit giving our money to the attorneys (Millions yearly). Legalize marijuana and get them affenders out of our prisons. The Government has spent billions of dollar on trying to stop marijuana and the truth they haven’t even slow it down. The old excuse that marijuana leads to harder drugs is about as old as it gets. Kids today start way past marijuana, try crack, meth even some of the harder drugs like heroin that are out there. Lets get real, we are losing the drug war and our prisons are full of inmates with drug charges that are costing us billions accross this country. We need to make prison life so hard that they would not want to come back. Take away the TV’s The AC’s The phones, The games, The weights for lifting. Make all the prisons in this state produce what they use such as food and cloths. Make them work 6-days a week and rest on the Sabbath. We got to take our country back from the criminals. Everday on the news you here about more robberies, rapes, killings, stealing and so on that we have lost our right to be safe in our on communitys. We have pass so many laws that protect the criminals that now our freedoms are gone. We don’t feel safe in our on neighborhoods. I think we are doing it all wrong and we can see the results everyday, just look outside and the story will reveal itself.
Start putting stiffer punishment on the prisoners. Death row should not mean, let them eat tax payers money for 20-40 years before going to the “death” part of it. Especially if there is no doubt they killed one or more people. The people they killed did not have the option of sitting around, eating three meals, watching tv, having outside time before they were killed, so why should the killer. I do somewhat agree with rehabilitation on some problems. Child molesters should be kept. They have stolen a child’s innocence and that is priceless. There should be harsh punishment for those guys. Why the chidlren are trying to cope and get past all the bad teh molester put onthem, the molester is in prison again eating three good meals, watching tv and not worrying about a thing.