|

Simpson ties pay raises to prison shutdowns

Senate President Wilton Simpson has a message for state prison leaders: Shut down institutions if you want pay raises for overworked corrections officers. Simpson, in a phone interview last week with The News Service of Florida, blamed chronic staffing shortages and high turnover rates on corrections officials’ “lack of vision” and “myopia” in operating the…

Help sought for ‘overworked, underpaid’ prison workers

 A top corrections official offered a stark picture of Florida’s prison system last week, warning that lawmakers must boost salaries of corrections workers to avert a looming disaster as the system grapples with high turnover rates, dangerously low staffing levels and fatigued employees. Department of Corrections Deputy Secretary Ricky Dixon said the agency wants to…

|

County leaders warn of ‘devastating’ prison closures

Both Franklin and Gulf counties are pushing back against a state plan to shutter up to four state prisons, a plan spreading alarm throughout Florida’s rural regions where correctional institutions have played an outsized role in providing jobs and supporting businesses for decades. “If we no longer have any inmates, will we need to hire…