Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Scott PowersDecember 14, 2016

Turnover of staff at Florida’s prisons is so high that a substantial majority of guards in some prisons have less than two years experience, Corrections Secretary Julie Jones said Wednesday before the Senate Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee. Jones was at the subcommittee’s introductory meeting to push hers’ and Gov. Rick Scott administration’s priorities. They start with […]

Florence SnyderDecember 8, 2016

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State Representative — and glutton for punishment — David Richardson (D-Miami Beach) brought his lonely crusade for improved prison infrastructure to the Columbia Correctional Institution on Thanksgiving Eve, giving inmates and guards the rare gift of something to be grateful for. Florida’s correctional facilities have been decaying for decades, out of sight and out of mind […]

Scott PowersSeptember 27, 2016

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings Tuesday urged state officials to reconsider their decision to close community-based transition centers. Demings, a Democrat seeking re-election this fall, was responding to reports that the Florida Department of Corrections intends to close the Orlando Transition Center and others around that state, eliminating 688 community-based substance abuse treatment beds. “Research indicates […]

Peter SchorschSeptember 27, 2016

Bridges of America and the Department of Corrections are at it again. As Florida Politics’ Jim Rosica reported Monday, Bridges and the DOC are once more warring over transitional programs for the state’s inmates. This isn’t the first time Lori Costantino-Brown, president and chief executive officer of Bridges of America, and Corrections Secretary Julie Jones had a high-profile scuffle. A […]

Jim RosicaSeptember 26, 2016

The state’s Department of Corrections and Bridges of America, an Orlando-based nonprofit, are once more warring over transitional programs for the state’s inmates. On Monday morning, Bridges representatives and supporters say they will rally at the organization’s Orlando Transition Center “to respond to (DOC’s) plans to shut the center down,” the group said. Lori Constantino-Brown, president […]

Jim RosicaAugust 2, 2016

Steven Fielder has been appointed chief of staff for the state’s Department of Corrections. The department announced the move Tuesday. Fielder, who begins Aug. 19, comes from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle (DHSMV), where he was most recently director of administrative services, the department’s press release said. Fielder started at DHSMV in 1992, serving in several high-level roles. That experience […]

Jim RosicaMay 11, 2016

The battle over Broward Bridge is over. The state’s Department of Corrections and Bridges of America announced a settlement Wednesday afternoon. The state had been planning to pull the plug on Broward Bridge, a residential program offering transitional counseling, drug treatment and other services to inmates on work release. Bridges, the Orlando-based nonprofit that runs the program, had […]

Jim RosicaMay 4, 2016

Almost all of Broward County’s legislative delegation is telling Gov. Rick Scott: Keep the Bridge open. In a new letter, 17 of the county’s members in the House and Senate — 16 of them Democrats — are the latest lawmakers to protest the Department of Corrections’ planned shutdown of a prisoner re-entry program. “The impact of this […]

Jim RosicaMay 3, 2016

At least three inmates have filed suit in Tallahassee over the Department of Corrections‘ shutdown of a south Florida prisoner re-entry program. Michael Brammer, John McDougle and Douglas Rahn sued in Leon County Circuit Court late Monday, records show. They seek a court order preventing the state from closing Broward Bridge, a residential program offering transitional […]

Jim RosicaMay 2, 2016

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A state senator says the Department of Corrections “lied” to him about the closure of a prisoner re-entry program. But a department spokesman says he may have misunderstood the conversation. Greg Evers, the Baker Republican who heads his chamber’s Criminal Justice Committee, spoke at a Tallahassee news conference on Monday. Evers told reporters he wanted to insert special […]

Tag: Julie Jones
Image via AP.

Julie Jones says prisons need higher pay to stop ‘churn in the hiring’

There oughta be a T-shirt for the David Richardson Tour

Jerry Demings urges state to keep open community facilities

One reason to support Bridges of America in its latest dust-up with the Department of Corrections

Dept of Corrections, Bridges of America battling again over inmate programs

Personnel note: Steven Fielder heads to Corrections

Corrections settles case over prisoner program shutdown

Broward delegation protests prisoner program closure

Inmates now suing over state shutdown of prisoner re-entry program

Greg Evers says prisons agency “lied” to him