Peter Schorsch
Mark Inch, former director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, has been named Secretary of the Department of Corrections, according to the transition team of Governor-elect Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov.-elect Jeanette Nuñez.
The transition announced the move, first reported by Florida Politics, on Thursday.
Inch, a retired U.S. Army major general, served briefly as federal prisons head from September 2017-May 2018.
There, he oversaw 122 detention facilities, 39,000 staffers and 186,000 inmates, according to his LinkedIn page.
Before that, Inch was Provost Marshal General of the Army, Commanding General of the Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and Army Corrections Command, and Executive Manager of the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency.
He was a military police officer for 35 years, serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
“Mark Inch is an exceptional leader who has dedicated his life to serving and protecting our country at home and abroad,” DeSantis said in a statement.
“Mark is one of the foremost experts on criminal justice, having Directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons and I am proud to have him bring his knowledge and expertise to this new administration. I look forward to working with him to strengthen Florida’s Department of Corrections and ensure efficiency and accountability at such an important agency.”
Inch has an undergraduate degree in biblical archaeology from Wheaton College in Illnois, a graduate degree in geography from the University of Texas at Austin and a graduate degree in Military Operational Art and Science Studies from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
He “completed professional certification with the American Correctional Association and was the first association member to earn the Certified Corrections Executive designation with Honor” the LinkedIn page says. “He also received the American Correctional Association’s highest honor, the E.R. Cass Award for lifetime achievement in Corrections.”
The department is “Florida’s largest state agency, and the third largest prison system in the country,” its website says. The agency “employs 24,000 members, incarcerates approximately 96,000 inmates and supervises nearly 166,000 offenders.”
Inch would replace Julie Jones, Corrections Secretary since 2015 under outgoing Gov. Rick Scott.
12 comments
Tdaven
January 3, 2019 at 3:24 pm
I sure hope this guy gets a sting hold on the abuse of power by guards, the dehumanization of inmates, the use of isolation, rampant use of drugs supplied by correctional staff, and the moving of inmates hundreds of miles from their families so visitation can’t occur. He has a HUGE HUGE mess to fix!
Rick Gaule
January 3, 2019 at 5:15 pm
Just needs to run it like a prison, not a daycare. Don’t like prison , don’
t come there. Play stupid games and win stupid prizes
M. Reeves
January 4, 2019 at 2:27 am
Yes, he has a huge challenge. I disagree that staff is the main cause. High staff turn over, as more experienced officers leave, retire in addition to increasing staff shortage has lead to diminishing morale. Inmate on inmate violence has dramatically increased causing an additional strain on limited resources. A noticeable increase in drug OD treatment after visitation occurs too. Not saying it’s all inmate visitors bringing the illegal drugs in, but that’s part of the problem too.
Noble j
January 4, 2019 at 1:25 pm
Its obvious You dont know what the hell your talking about, and have never worked in a prison before and county jails dont count!
Foster
January 3, 2019 at 4:20 pm
Raises would certainly help retain and recruit officers.
NOBLE J
January 4, 2019 at 1:33 pm
In my experience as a florida state correctional officer, the pay is to low for the job duties, which is the main reason for staff turnover, secondly under the old admin, they changed the prisons into a daycare where control of dangerous and aggressive INMATES was curtailed, rather punishing officer who defend themselves because the court system allows(some not all) frivolous law suits by inmates, so sue and u can do whatever you want, cause DOC doesnt want to pay. AND NO I DONT BELIEVE IN ABUSE OF ANY KIND AGAINST INMATES THEY’RE HUMAN NOT ANIMALS. But they have to be dealt with in the manner they act PERIOD!
Mike
January 3, 2019 at 5:47 pm
Why in the hell would a retired 3 star general want this , enjoy your life good sir !
donald chambers
January 3, 2019 at 7:09 pm
another outsider will not fix anything a yes man to the legislators
Lisa
January 4, 2019 at 10:07 am
I worked for FDOC for 30 years and retired because of Julie Jones and her cronies! FDOC has went to hell in a basket under her watch. No control over inmates, staff under paid! Not enough staff, staff over worked, morale at an all time lowest! Glad do see a new face hopefully he can make a change! Praying for him, he has a huge mess to clean up!!!
Sabe
January 4, 2019 at 4:05 pm
You guys mention raises and what not to keep COs etc. how about Florida does what the Feds just did and actual look at the system as a whole and realize that there are TOO many locked up for years over petty offenses and other men who were sentenced back in the early 2000s who received excessive sentences. I know a young man who was sentenced back in 2001. How does an 18 year old young man get sentenced to 30 years for his first offense where no one was hurt?? Smh. Florida DOC is a huge mess and honestly I feel like it’ll be the last state to make changes. Florida is always last on making any kind of changes. The fact that private prisons funded The whole Desantis run doesn’t help either. They aren’t idiots, they know what they’re doing. Private prisons and DOC sprinkled some money (which they have plenty of) onto a politician so of course he’s backing them 100%. Keep politicians happy and they won’t come sniffing.
Diana
January 8, 2019 at 1:42 am
Sabe, on point and well put!!! I couldn’t agree more!!
COretired.
January 10, 2019 at 11:11 pm
How exactly did DOC, a state entity, spread money around to back DeSantis? And you do realize even if we moved all the private prisons out tomorrow, we would have the same number of inmates and the facilities would just fall under government control. As far as the young man you say got 30 years, you conviently left off the crime he committed. That would help readers decide if it was a legit sentence. In most circumstances a sentence of that length on a first offense usually means a pretty serious crime.
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