Jim RosicaThe company slated to get as much as $300,000 for an outside review of the state prison system is itself a designer and developer of correctional facilities.
The Florida Legislature last month issued a “notice of intent” to award a contract to Carter Goble Associates, part of Miami-based CGL Cos.
The study was funded as a line-item in the current year’s budget. It authorizes the state to “contract with an independent consultant to study the operations of the Department of Corrections with regard to the incarceration of inmates.”
“The contractor shall identify both positive and negative aspects of the department’s operations and shall prepare a report of its findings, including recommendations for improvements, (to be) submitted to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives no later than December 1, 2015,” the budget says.
Florida’s prison system has been under fire because of reports of corruption and abuse by some corrections officers, some resulting in inmate deaths, as well as allegations of retaliation against whistle-blowers.
Lawmakers held hearings this year about ensuring the integrity of the corrections department, with one senator even making a couple of unannounced visits to state prisons in north Florida. State Sen. Greg Evers, a Baker Republican, said he found deteriorating buildings and low staffing.
CGL Cos. isn’t a private prison operator such as GEO Group or Corrections Corporation of America but rather makes its money on the front end, offering a team of architects and builders to design and put up a facility.
CGL was bought in 2012 by Hunt Companies Inc., according to its website, a developer specializing in large projects such as military tract housing, courthouses and research parks.
A spokeswoman for Hunt did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The state Department of Corrections houses more than 100,000 inmates in 56 prisons, including seven privately run prisons, its website says. The agency also employs nearly 21,000 workers, most of whom are corrections officers.
