State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

FL: Senators push for criminal justice reform

Orlando Sentinel: TALLAHASSEE – With the cost of imprisoning nearly 100,000 inmates on the rise, a bipartisan group of Florida senators is proposing bills designed to reduce sentences and costs.

But skeptical leaders in the House might not be willing to go along with the reforms.

An aging inmate population with higher medical costs and state sentencing laws that keep convicts in prison for longer periods are two of the main factors in driving up costs. The state will spend $2.4 billion on the Department of Corrections this year, and Gov. Rick Scott wants to spend an extra $200 million next year, with much of it going to hire more prison guards.

“It’s not an increase in violent crime,” Leonard Engel, director of policy for Community Resources for Justice, a Boston-based think tank, told a Senate panel Thursday. “It’s largely a function of policy decisions over the last 20 years that have gotten you to this point.”

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