House Bill 3711c1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 1998 CS/HB 3711
By the Committee on Governmental Operations and
Representative Lacasa
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to a feasibility study
3 involving corrections; requiring the Office of
4 Program Policy Analysis and Government
5 Accountability (OPPAGA) to conduct a study on
6 the feasibility of the Department of
7 Corrections submitting a bid and operating its
8 prisons in a manner similar to that provided by
9 law for private contractors; requiring the
10 study to be submitted to the presiding officers
11 of the Legislature; providing an effective
12 date.
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14 WHEREAS, an inmate's discomfort resulting from austere
15 imprisonment conditions not only deters the specific
16 individual from committing further criminal offenses, but also
17 has a general deterrent effect upon those in society
18 contemplating similar activities, and
19 WHEREAS, many citizens are often appalled when they
20 become aware of the comforts that prisoners in prisons enjoy
21 when many of our citizens can not afford these luxuries, and
22 WHEREAS, the no-frills prison movement in Florida
23 resulted in the Legislature eliminating or restricting many
24 diverse inmate privileges, and the ability of correctional
25 managers in the public prisons to purchase with non-tax
26 dollars recreation equipment and televisions, and
27 WHEREAS, there is substantial agreement among
28 corrections experts regarding the legitimacy of eliminating or
29 restricting free weights and personal clothing and
30 establishing medical copayments, and there also is
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 1998 CS/HB 3711
192-997-98
1 considerable agreement that eliminating all access to
2 television and recreational opportunities is imprudent, and
3 WHEREAS, the no-frills prison movement in Florida has
4 had an unintended consequence of making it more difficult and
5 costly for prison officials in the public prisons to maintain
6 security, and
7 WHEREAS, an ideal prison system should use both
8 incentives and disincentives to control and change inmate
9 behavior, and
10 WHEREAS, the dedicated correctional officers working in
11 our public prisons deserve to be protected from harm by having
12 the ability to appropriately punish and reward inmates under
13 their control, and
14 WHEREAS, there is a public safety benefit in the
15 successful rehabilitation and return of deserving inmates back
16 into society, and
17 WHEREAS, it is the intent of the Legislature to
18 establish a two-tier correctional system in which both private
19 and public correctional facilities are given the necessary
20 management tools to effectively punish and reward inmates,
21 NOW, THEREFORE,
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23 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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25 Section 1. The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
26 Government Accountability (OPPAGA) shall study the feasibility
27 of the Department of Corrections submitting a bid and
28 operating its prisons in a similar manner as provided by law
29 in chapter 957, Florida Statutes, for private firms and other
30 private contractors. The study shall be submitted to the
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 1998 CS/HB 3711
192-997-98
1 Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the President
2 of the Senate by January 1, 1999.
3 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
4 law.
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