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Scott: We’ll Meet Private Prison Deadline
July 26, 2011
The Department of Corrections on Monday released a request for proposals to privatize 29 facilities associated with 11 South Florida correctional institutions in response to a bill passed earlier this year to privatize prisons in the southern third of the state.
The request calls for bids to establish a multi-year contract for services at correctional institutions and satellite facilities. The five-year contract will be awarded to a single bidder.
Speaking with reporters Monday, Gov. Rick Scott said he was confident his agencies could meet a tight January 1 deadline to commence a contract.
“The Legislature gave us those dates so I don’t think we have a choice,” Scott said. “I think we have a good team.”
By The News Service Florida
Comments
14 Responses to “Scott: We’ll Meet Private Prison Deadline”
It is leaps and bounds better than working for the state or GEO.
BO – sounds like a plan to me. I am working on the tobacco free requirement now.
You guys should come to the county. I left the state and will never look back. More pay, I only work twelve days a month, and it is ten times better!
Scott,
You are correct is saying that GEO cuts its benefits. I am getting less health insurance packages and more costly ones at that, it has no DROP program, and it has only a 401K program for retirement. With the nation, 14.5 trillion in debt a 401K program is clearly not what I want to invest in right now. I am just glad I have a job that the DOC would not give me.
RJay,
I put in at four different locations, Century, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton. They were possibly denied at personnel for some reason, but I am not clear on what grounds that reason was for. I am comparing the GEO Group Inc. private prison industry to the State operated DOC public prison industry system of compensation. I believe that is comparing apples to apples or oranges to oranges. The two systems are different only because one is private and the other is public. One pays overtime and the other does not. To say that the officer will be paid less here at a privately run prison in Northwest Florida is not entirely true. I was looking at my paycheck stub and the reason I was making a little more at BWRCF is due to the fact of overtime. Overtime IS guaranteed to be paid at the prison, how many hours the officer will have at the end of two weeks vary from officer to officer. BWRCF does guarantee that it will pay overtime for any amount of time during a two-week period over 80 hours. On average, I can say that most officers get at least 15 minutes of overtime because they are relieved usually after the shift ends by about 5-10 minutes and then depending on how fast he/she walks to the time clock you usually get at least 15 minutes of overtime. You are correct in saying that the hourly wage is less but it is only a slight bit less and when you factor in the fact that BWRCF pays overtime, I can determine my bring home pay is a little more than the DOC because I was looking at several months during 2008 and 2011 then I compared the results.
private businesses have incentive to make money, why should jails have incentive to jail people? Since people = money, that means the more jailed = the more pay the jail receives.
Prison should not be a business, this means they will just start jailing more and more people for no reason for money
While I am stating facts:
Private run prisons are mandated by law to run 7% cheaper than state run prisons. NONE HAVE EVER DONE IT. Yet they continue to get contracts. The only way they can run things cheaper is to cut benefits (which we all know by now that is what Rick Scott is all about). Or send their most expensive inmates to a state run facility because “they are not set up for that type inmate” If the inmate is a disciplinary problem, send him to a state prison, if he/she is old and needs extensive medical attention, send them to a state prison. This is a fact that happens right now. What do you think happens when all the medical problems and disciplinary problem are shipped from down in south Florida. They end up in state run prisons which drive up the cost for state run prisons. THIS IS A FACT.
Private Prisons for profit = Corruption
Public Prisons for citizens = Accountability.
Little Known Fact: GEO Group( Runs private prisons) was a major contributor to Rick Scott’s inaugurate ball.
Fact everyone knows: Not one Law enforcement agency across this state supported Rick Scott. You get what you elect. Now deal with it. I have to.
Michael, you said “The DOC accepted six applications for me wanting my job back as a corrections officer, all six were denied.” Believe me there must be a legitimate reason your applications were denied. Be honest with yourself, could it be the reason you left the DOC to start with? I’m not saying, you did anything wrong, but something does not seem right. The DOC is looking for certified Correctional Officer, they would not turn away an already trained officer for no reason. As for overtime, overtime is now being paid due to the lack of certified officers. As for Blackwater, since they are a private company they are able accept people that the State of Florida Corrections Department must turn down .
Michael,
The application/packets that are submitted are approved at institution level and then forwarded to personnel for processing – unless there is some disqualifying factor that is discovered during processing. Were your packets all submitted at one institution? Or were they denied at personnel due to other factors? I understand that you are making more – but this is simply due to overtime pay. So, actually, you are comparing apples to oranges. The hourly wage IS less. And, correct me if I’m wrong, overtime is not guaranteed.
I am glad I am a detention deputy for the county.
The DOC accepted six applications for me wanting my job back as a corrections officer, all six were denied. The DOC did not want me back after spending ten years working for them. I am now working for BlackwaterRiver CF. As for training less that comment is just not true. The prison is receiving approximately 18 TEA’s back from the academy after spending the last 4 months there. As for paying the officer less, that statement is just not true either. When I receive my paycheck stub every two weeks it is usually just a slight bit more than when I was working for the DOC. That is because BWRCF pays overtime. That is something the DOC cut out years ago. As for public safety, I know the prison has many DOC certified officers working there. The prison recently made changes to its firing line requalification arrangement. BWRCF has a CERT team and it has the exact same fencing system as Santa Rosa CI surrounding the compound. We have two armed perimeter roving patrol units 24/365. I do not know why the GEO prison down in south Florida was not more on the ball than that but I do know that those same people would not be working here, they would most probably get a pink slip.
Okay we will fire you so you can go to work for someone who will pay you less, educate you less train you less and pay you less. BUt the good news is PROFIT!!
I still have a problem with the government passing its authority and responsibility to civilian contractors. When a judge orders someone to be locked-up, this becomes the inherent responsibility of the government, and running a prison should be considered a basic governmental function. So why are we allowing the state to abandon its responsibility to keep prisoners? I guess we didn’t, but we allowed our elected politicians to do it.