![]() ![]() “Clearly, the Lake City facility requires less time to move about the entire premises when compared to a facility situated on a large campus and including many different buildings.” “An argument could be made that there is no similar public institution because the Lake City facility is modern, entirely enclosed, under one roof,” Richardson wrote. But as PLN has reported, this sort of comparison is rarely possible due to the difficulties in comparing costs at public and privately-operated prisons. “It is surprising that so many government employees and entities could be involved in these matters and the price estimating trickery went undetected.”įlorida law requires a minimum 7 percent cost savings from the operation of a similar state prison prior to the award of a private prison contract. “The award of this contract under the terms and conditions provided was a colossal government failure,” he wrote in a nine-page report released on January 10, 2017. Richardson was astounded by what he found. The original contract was awarded on Jand has been renewed and extended since that time. Richardson’s work has turned into a one-man quest to bring accountability to Florida’s seven privately-operated prisons, which house about one-tenth of the state’s roughly 98,000 prisoners at an annual cost of $142 million.Īfter visiting LCCF on October 22, 2015, Richardson asked officials from the state’s Department of Management Services (DMS) – which oversees the private contracts – to brief him on how CCA was compensated to operate the 894-bed facility. Since Governor Rick Scott began a drive to privatize prison operations – trying to make good on a promise from his successful 2010 campaign to trim $1 billion from the state’s corrections budget – Richardson has visited some 70 Florida prisons under a law that allows state legislators to enter a facility at any time for a review and inspection.Īs recently reported in PLN, Richardson began visiting prisons housing youths after reading media reports of rampant abuse and violence. Richardson have led to staff changes at the privately-managed Gadsden Correctional Facility for women and the closure of the Lancaster Correctional Institution (LCI) for youthful offenders. David Richardson concluded the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) had approved a pricing scheme that allowed Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), now known as CoreCivic, to operate the Lake City Correctional Facility (LCCF) at a significantly higher cost than if the state had run the prison itself. Share: Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on G+ Share with emailĪn audit personally overseen by Florida state Rep.
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