Welcome to Bizarro Amerika!

You seem to have two thesis's about privatization of prisons.  First, that they are inherently corrupt, and secondly, they don't do what they are sold to do: save money.  

The fraud and waste that often come with outsourcing these services has been well-documented. The private management in Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the lobbying efforts of corporate prisons have all provided horror stories of what happens when cronyism guides decision-making on behalf of the state. But privatization as standard government practice has problems that go far beyond the abuses of any single incident.

Rather than solving problems with government, privatization often amplifies those issues to new extremes. Instead of unleashing market innovation, it often introduces new parasitic partners into the decision-making process. Instead of providing a check on the power of the government, it allows the state to circumvent constitutional and democratic accountability measures by merging with the private sector. And ultimately, the practice replaces the set of choices and constraints found in democracy, with another set found in the marketplace. Today’s political conversation is blind to these problems out of a mistaken faith in the efficiency and fundamental equality of markets, contrasted to the ineffectiveness and corruptibility of the state.

What advocates miss is that the logic of markets creates private-sector coalitions capable of extracting just as much from taxpayers as the state. Corporations, lobbyists and other market actors can have just as much political agency as the government, and privatization can mobilize businesses to rewrite market practices.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) and his allies in the state legislature are pursuing a plan to privatize dozens of prisons in South Florida. Republicans claim that private prisons are more efficient and that the move would save the state millions of dollars. The privatization bill is facing some trouble in the state senate, including opposition from key Republicans.

Scott claims that the purpose of the privatization push is to shave 7 percent off the state budget, which perpetually comes up short since Republicans refuse to raise revenue and continue to drive the state's economy into the ground.

    [State Sen. Steve] Oelrich, a long-time member of the Florida Retirement System, said he was taken aback when Scott suggested the reason the state had to save the money on its prisons was because he believes the "retirement system is broke."

    "The governor's words were that we are 'lying to state employees,' '' Oelrich said. "That troubles me. I don't think that's necessarily correct."

    Oelrich questioned why Scott would use that as a rationale for defending prison privatization, which is projected to save between $16 million to $30 million a year. The state's retirement fund is more than 80 percent funded, he said, a level he believes is considered high compared to other states. Bringing it up to 100 percent funding is not something advocated by actuaries, Oelrich said, and would cost billions.

    "He says we're between $25 and $60 billion in unfunded liability because we've assumed a 7.5 percent accrual rate and it's only making 5 percent,'' he said. "I'm very concerned that if in fact the retirement system is broke and we can't fulfill our obligations, then the State of Florida ought to let people know that and make the decisions they ought to make."

A broad coalition of groups has come out in opposition to the plan:

    No other state has initiated such an ambitious experiment as the one proposed in this legislation. Consequently, the proposal to greatly increase the number of prisons under private contract raises several issues of concern including the dubious cost saving claims, efficiency in correctional management, and the impact on public safety. Successful efforts to contain correctional costs have been achieved in a number of states in recent years through other criminal justice policy initiatives that have reduced demand for scarce correctional resources.

    The groups are: ACLU of Florida, Advocare, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), Critical Resistance, Florida Justice Institute, Human Rights Defense Center, In the Public Interest, Justice Strategies, National African American Drug Policy Coalition, Inc., Ohio Justice Policy Center, Private Corrections Institute, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, The Sentencing Project, Southern Center for Human Rights, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, United Church of Christ/ Justice and Witness Ministries, United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society

The bill is likely to have a strong negative impact on prison workers:

    Labor groups and current corrections officers have warned legislators that privatizing prisons will lead to staff cuts and public safety hazards.

    Roberts says his prison is already operating with a limited number of staff: “We are already running at critical levels.”

    “We have the same number of prisoners,” Roberts explains, “but we have less staff.”

There are also concerns that workers who are not laid off will face significant cuts to their salary, benefits or both.

Sen. Mike Fasano was removed Wednesday as chairman of the Senate committee that writes the criminal justice budget by Senate President Mike Haridopolos because the president said he lost confidence in Fasano’s dedication to cutting spending.

Fasano (R-11/New Port Richey) has led the effort to derail a Senate priority, a plan to privatize Florida prisons in most of the southern part of the state, a plan that has slowed in the face of that opposition this week.

Haridopolos (R-26/Merritt Island) has said he wasn’t doing any arm twisting to try to get that measure passed, and said Wednesday he simply didn’t think Fasano was committed to the massive budget cutting task at hand, which includes the prison privatization proposal with its projected – though disputed – cost savings of more than $16 million.

“I’m asking other budget chairmen to make difficult cuts,” Haridopolos said. “It became clear to me that Sen. Fasano was not willing to make those difficult cuts.”

Fasano, who will be replaced as chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-25/Fort Lauderdale) said he was being thrown out of his chairmanship for standing up for “the little guy and gal.”

“No matter how big the bully in the schoolyard may be, if the loss of a chairmanship is the result of taking a stand for what is right, I wear that loss as a badge of honor,” Fasano said in a statement released to reporters after Haridopolos announced the change.

Fasano was taken off the committee altogether, not just stripped of its chairmanship, according to the committee’s web site. He remains a member of several other legislative committees.

We could not conclude from these
studies that privatization of correctional facilities will not save money.
However, these studies do not offer substantial evidence that savings have
occurred.

Usually, our mistrust of lawmakers is a little fuzzy. Just a vague sense that something's happening, and we're not quite sure what that something is.
That's why this prison privatization saga has arrived at such a perfect time for those Floridians whose paranoia had atrophied.
Behold the hanky-panky!

With almost no help from anyone else, Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Senate budget chief JD Alexander have renewed our faith in deceit.

A handful of legislators were so hell-bent on turning state prisons over to private companies they tried to sneak it into the 2011 budget only to be slapped down by a judge.

Undeterred, they tried to change laws in 2012 to make it easier to pass. They rigged Senate committees to squash opposition. They hid $25 million in potential costs to the state. I'm not sure, but they may have even suggested the redemption at Shawshank was due to privatization.

At some point it's worth asking why this issue is so important to them. It's not health care reform. It's not a groundbreaking education initiative.

Now cost-cutting is a swell plan in some areas of government, but I'm not sure it works here. No. 1, a Walmart-style prison system sounds a little reckless. No. 2, reducing jobs and cutting pay in a state with 10 percent unemployment sounds a little heartless.

Besides, some lawmakers have rightfully questioned whether a private company is really going to save the state much, if any, money.

Florida already has a few private prisons, and the handoff has not always been smooth.

A Department of Corrections visit indicated one of the prisons was either understaffed or inept when officials stood outside pushing the buzzer and waving at security cameras for 20 minutes. They eventually left without being acknowledged.

An audit also discovered the state overpaid a couple of the companies by more than $13 million.

And then there is the question of what strategies a private company might employ to make money. A few years ago, a couple of judges in Pennsylvania were convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for sentencing juveniles to prison so the facility could pump up its profits with additional inmates.

Huh. For a bunch who proclaim "Chicago Style Politics" while criticizing the President it sure seems like they're practicing a lot worse...

During a lengthy floor debate on prison privatization Monday, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, wanted to know why Senate leaders are so aggressively pushing the project if, as some believe, Gov. Rick Scott can privatize prisons by himself.

"Why are we here doing this now?" Latvala asked Sen. JD Alexander. "I mean, in other words, if the governor has the authority to do it within current statutes, why are we breaking arms to get it done?"

Before Alexander could answer, Senate President Mike Haridopolos quickly interjected: "Senator Latvala, I'd like you to refrain from that question, because that's not accurate."

"I'm sorry," Latvala said. "That was meant as kind of a joke. Why are we pushing so hard?"

"There you go," Haridopolos said. "Thank you." Said Alexander: "My arms are still working pretty good, Senator. I've certainly not broken any arms or twisted anyone to do anything other than what they believe is right."

Latvala was picking up on statements last week by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, who asserted that Scott can privatize prisons on his own authority. He can, but under certain conditions, one of which is a specific appropriation by the Legislature for a privatization contract (see Chapter 944.105 in the Florida Statutes).

Haridopolos told reporters he has never pressured or intimidated senators into supporting prison privatization. "I don't twist arms," he said.

A major expansion of prison privatization in Florida teetered on the brink of collapse Monday as a tense Senate divided into two sharply opposing camps.

Eight Republicans joined 11 Democrats and narrowly missed killing the bill by substituting a study of prison privatization for the plan itself. The maneuver failed on a 21-19 vote — but one of those voting no was Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, an ardent opponent of privatization who is eager to sink the entire idea when it's considered Tuesday.

"Let's just kill the bill tomorrow and be done with it," Jones said. "I've been 'No' on the bill from the very beginning."