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Florida gets option to export prisoners to other states

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 8, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - Florida will soon have the option of exporting prisoners to other states, though the state's top corrections official is not wild about the idea.

The new law, which state Sen. Victor Crist sponsored this spring, authorizes the state Department of Corrections to house prisoners in correctional facilities outside Florida. The plan is intended to stave off the need to build more prison beds, which cost about $80,000 a piece.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed the proposal into law on May 27; it will take effect July 1.

With budget pressures bearing down on lawmakers this spring, "we were looking for how we could not have to build any new prison beds if we could help it," said Sen. Crist, R-Tampa, who oversees criminal justice spending in the Senate. "The Department of Corrections is 75 percent of my budget, and a significant portion is the cost of building new prisons."

Sen. Crist began working on the cost-cutting measure last summer and proposed it early this spring. The law primarily targets prisoners without family or community ties in-state, such as illegal immigrants and prisoners who hail from other states but were convicted of crimes in Florida. About 2,000 current prisoners fit that description, he said.

The Legislature's intent was to target only such prisoners, he said. But he acknowledged that the law is not so explicit, requiring only that "the department consider, to the extent possible," the proximity of the inmate's family to the out-of-state prison.

Florida already ships prisoners to other states in isolated cases, according to the Department of Corrections — to protect a prisoner in custody, or by a prisoner's request to be closer to family in another state. The new law differs from existing practices, since it does not entail trading prisoners per an existing interstate compact in which Florida and about 40 other states participate.

Sen. Crist said his plan is "a last resort" to avoid early releases of prisoners that the federal government could mandate due to overcrowding.

Department of Corrections Secretary Walt McNeil has not exactly embraced the concept. "Removing prisoners further from their families and communities undermines the goal of reducing recidivism," he said in an e-mailed statement, adding that he has no plans to exercise the option.

Sen. Crist said the idea came originally from the Department of Corrections, albeit not as a recommendation. "They said this was an option at our disposal."

Whether McNeil will ever have to make that decision remains uncertain. Florida's prison population is currently about 100,780, roughly 6,000 below recent estimates of the system's total capacity. Analysts at the state Office of Economic and Demographic Research predicted this spring that the population would be 101,452 on July 1 and reach 104,806 by June 30, 2010.

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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