Pubdate: Wed, 26 Jan 2011
Source: Pensacola News Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2011 The Pensacola News Journal
Contact: http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=OPINION0301
Website: http://www.pnj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1675
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

SCOTT'S PRISON BREAK

It's way too soon to know if Gov. Rick Scott really understands that 
he is now a politician who needs legislative allies, or still thinks 
he's a CEO who can issue orders to get things done.

So the fact he thinks he can cut 40 percent from the state prison 
budget when key legislators think that's a pipe dream -- without 
simply releasing thousands of prisoners -- might be one of the 
reality checks headed his way.

But Scott might have hit an administrative home run with his 
selection of former Indiana prison system chief Edwin Buss to run 
Florida's prisons.

Indiana's system is much smaller than Florida's, but Buss radically 
cut costs there. In large part he did it by getting legislators to 
focus on something that might go against the "lock 'em up" theory 
that has pushed Florida's prison population past 100,000 inmates, and 
cost Florida taxpayers billions. That is, using prison for criminals 
who need to be there, and finding other -- less costly, and less 
socially damaging -- remedies for those who shouldn't be there.

Yes, that includes the dreaded "R" word -- rehabilitation. Most 
prisoners eventually get out, and return to their communities. They 
need to return with something more than just the knowledge of how to 
be better criminals.

Buss isn't alone in his thinking. This week Florida legislators heard 
from a Texas legislator who told them the key to cutting prison costs 
is to stop seeing a jail cell as the only answer to crime -- 
especially for drug users.

Buss, meanwhile, has criticized the growing inclination of 
legislatures to create new crimes and enact mandatory sentencing laws 
- -- the latter long a favorite of Florida's "get tough" crowd.

The News Journal Editorial Board has long urged lawmakers to 
re-examine the idea of incarceration as a cure-all for crime, 
especially when it comes to drugs. We'd prefer to see serious 
criminals -- especially violent ones -- kept behind bars longer, 
while finding better ways to handle other crimes.

One worry is that some of Buss's ideas have already struggled in 
Florida. Former Department of Corrections Secretary Jim McDonough, a 
former Army colonel, also had impressive credentials four years ago 
when he proposed many of the same ideas, but was rebuffed by the Legislature.

But McDonough's rigid style won him a lot of enemies. By all accounts 
Buss wins people over quickly. And today legislators are hungry for 
ways to save money. If Buss can offer them significant savings, they 
are likely to listen. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake