Pubdate: Sun, 31 Aug 2003
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2003, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Note: Limit LTEs to 150 words
Author: Robert Batey

THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX AT WORK IN FLORIDA

Despite the state's budget crisis, the Florida Legislature authorized $65 
million on an emergency basis to build more prison cells (Nation/ World, 
Aug. 15). The cited emergency was an unexpectedly sharp rise in the number 
of new inmates. The politicians called this rise surprising because crime 
rates in the state are at their lowest in almost three decades.

There should have been no surprise. The spurt in new prison admittees, as 
well as the Legislature's knee-jerk response to it, are clear examples of 
the prison industrial complex at work. The businesses and bureaucrats that 
profit from incarceration and the politicians who profit from those 
businesses have combined to line their pockets and feather their nests.

A little background first: In 1961, in his last speech as president, Gen. 
Dwight D. Eisenhower presciently warned against the "military industrial 
complex," which he defined as the "conjunction of an immense military 
establishment and a large arms industry" whose "influence - economic, 
political, even spiritual - is felt in every city, every state house, every 
office of the federal government."

In December 1998, an important article in The Atlantic analogized to 
President Eisenhower's example in describing the "prison industrial 
complex," which the author, Eric Schlosser, defined as "a set of 
bureaucratic, political, and economic interests that encourage increased 
spending on imprisonment, regardless of the actual need." Schlosser went on 
to document the workings of the prison industrial complex in California, 
New York, Texas and other states.

Florida could well have been included. Over the last generation, many 
corporations have profited handsomely from the building and maintaining of 
our sprawling state prison system. They want to continue to profit, so they 
contribute generously to those politicians who will vote for new prison 
expenditures.

The bureaucracy needed to run Florida's prisons has also enlarged 
substantially, from administrators down to the guards. These people want to 
keep their jobs, so they too reward the politicians who support them, with 
money and votes - and by locating new prisons in the supporters' districts 
if they have that power.

All this works to the benefit of those in political power, so our 
governors, Democratic and Republican, have sought dramatic increases in the 
state's prison system, and our legislators, Democratic and Republican, have 
voted overwhelmingly in favor of them.

The Legislature's recent action is a textbook example of this process. The 
primary reason for the recent spurt of new prisoners is increased drug 
convictions. Beginning two years ago, the Legislature started cutting drug 
treatment programs, both in prison and for those on probation - a 
cost-saving device that removed about $14 million from the state budget. 
You don't have be a rocket scientist to conclude that if the treatment 
programs had continued, many of those now going (or returning) to prison 
would be doing something different with their lives.

So we saved $14 million but it is now costing us $65 million. It seems 
stupid - unless you're part of the prison industrial complex and stand to 
profit from all that taxpayer money. Sixty-five million dollars will go to 
businesses and bureaucrats who will take their cut and then pass a lot of 
it back to the politicians in the form of political contributions.

Robert Batey is a professor at Stetson University College of Law and lives 
in Gulfport.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom