State Corrections Department Wants $287 Million More

Restoring money cut last year to prison education programs and increasing money to programs that would help prepare inmates to re-enter society are some of the top priorities for The Department of Corrections, the department's top official said Wednesday.

The Department of Corrections' current $2.2 billion budget is about 1.5 percent of the state's overall budget. Next year the department is asking for an additional $286.8 million, but that could be difficult in a tight budget year.

Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he understands the cash crunch.

"We will be elated if we can hold the budget this year," he said.

A large portion of his department's request - $81 million - would pay for the cost of new inmates expected to enter Florida prisons. The department expects to hit 100,000 inmates some time in the next year, a number of inmates only two other states and the federal government have surpassed.

The department also wants to get back money the Legislature cut last year, including restoring and adding to money for education, substance abuse treatment and preparing inmates to return to society. The approximately $45 million the department is asking for is money well spent, McNeil said, because it will prevent people from committing other crimes and re-entering the system. Nearly 90 percent of all Florida inmates will be released back into communities. That's why preparing prisoners for re-entry is so important, McNeil said.

Last year lawmakers also got rid of about 200 probation officer positions and 60 chaplains, half of all the chaplains at the time. The department wants those positions reinstated. Both are good investments because they help keep people from re-offending, McNeil said. Currently, 2,500 probation officers manage some 193,000 offenders, and the caseload on a single officer can be high.

The department has other requests as well. That includes $3.6 million to replace the radios corrections officers use. The department's current radios are old and officials can no longer even buy parts to fix broken ones, McNeil said.

"That's a real safety concern," McNeil said.

They're also asking for approximately $7 million dollars to replace some of the nearly 3,000 vehicles the department owns: buses and vans the department uses to transport prisoners to court or from facility to facility. The average department vehicle is 13 years old and has 100,000 miles on it.

The Florida Legislature will begin its 2009 session on March 3. The Department of Corrections requests will be debated as part of the overall budget during the 60-day session.