Right now, legislation is being considered in the Florida Senate which would allow private, for-profit companies to manage 29 Florida prisons. Advocates for civil rights and criminal justice reform had feared that the bill would coast through the legislature, but as more and more Floridians speak out about the harm of private prisons, the bill is stalling.
Now is the time to act. Add your voice to the chorus of Floridians calling for real reform and urge the Senate to stop prison privatization.
Right now about 104,000 Floridians are incarcerated — approximately the population of the city of Clearwater. The private prison industry would feed off this addiction to mass incarceration by obtaining more and more taxpayer dollars to deprive Floridians of their liberty.
Proponents of the bill claim that it will save the state money, but studies have shown again and again that private prisons often end up costing taxpayers more money. They're more dangerous for correction workers and inmates, and no person should ever have to worry that the terms and conditions of his or her incarceration are influenced by profit. The only real way to cut prison spending is to break the cycle of mass incarceration.You can help stop this dangerous step backwards for Florida's mass incarceration problem. With the privatization proposal stalling in the Senate, this week is your best chance to have your voice heard.
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