While Governor Scott and the State Legislature's move to privatize corrections was expected, the move to privatize probation and parole services came as a complete surprise.
Prisons and jails can easilymonetized and monitored for profits, probation will prove to be very difficult to manage or make profitable.
Let's examine some of the many pits falls awaiting a private corporation willing to take accept the probation and parole contract for one or both of these counties.
Unlike prisons, individuals on probation live in our communities and are free to travel without permission within their respective county of residence.
Individuals on probation can be people released from prison (parole), sex offenders, drug offenders, violent offenders, all the way down to first time felons.
Individuals are placed on probation by a Judge, who imposes conditions of probation that the person must follow.
The probation officer's job is to monitor the individual and to report to the court if any conditions of the probation have been violated.
Let's take this simple example of probation and now add money into the mix.
Using the private prison industry as an example one would have to assume that the company that takes the contract would be paid a set amount for every person placed on probation.
This is the first of several very important differences between prison and probation.
When a person is sentenced to prison there is a known time that he or she will remain behind bars.
This is not so with probation.
A person on probation has the possibility of being terminated early, arrested on a new charge, absconding (disappearing), violating probation and being sent to prison or jail.
Since there are several outcomes possible with probation, there is the possibility that officers hired by a private corporation would be encouraged or instructed not to file violations of probation with the court or to recommended early termination as it might reduce the profit projections for the quarter.
Officers stand to be rated on the amount of money that they bring produce and not the enforcement of laws or court orders.
The privatized system may give preferential treatment to people on probation that pay over those on probation that do not.
One can easily see where corruption and manipulation of justice can enter into the picture.
The legal system is already tainted my the effects of money based on the level of attorney a person can afford.
Now money will play a factor after sentencing.
Remember that a private corporation's reason for existing is to make a profit and a return for investors.
Other liability issues will arise with duties that a probation officers are required to perform.
Probation officers currently drive their own vehicles to perform their duties.
Many carry firearms.
They are required to visit people on probation where they live, write probation orders, request warrants for arrest, assist other law enforcement agencies with operations, investigations, arrests, and administer drug tests.
Most officers have case loads of over 50 people.
Everyone of the duties stated above has the possibility to expose a corporation to civil law suits if something should go wrong or someone decides to file a complaint with the courts.
No corporation would think of accepting a contract after realizing the legal exposure and inconsistent revenue unless they plan to reduce services to such a level where a profit can be guaranteed no matter what the situation.
The revenue numbers will prove to protect probation officers but not correctional officers.
The private prison industry is alive and well, waiting to take over wherever they can.
However, numbers may serve a key role in reversing many of the decisions that this made by Governor Scott and the Legislature.
Be sure to download and preserve the state employee salary posted by Governor Scott.
Once people can compare the level of service they now have with what the private sector will give them, only then will they understand how much money they are saving by leaving things the way they are.
Prisons and jails can easilymonetized and monitored for profits, probation will prove to be very difficult to manage or make profitable.
Let's examine some of the many pits falls awaiting a private corporation willing to take accept the probation and parole contract for one or both of these counties.
Unlike prisons, individuals on probation live in our communities and are free to travel without permission within their respective county of residence.
Individuals on probation can be people released from prison (parole), sex offenders, drug offenders, violent offenders, all the way down to first time felons.
Individuals are placed on probation by a Judge, who imposes conditions of probation that the person must follow.
The probation officer's job is to monitor the individual and to report to the court if any conditions of the probation have been violated.
Let's take this simple example of probation and now add money into the mix.
Using the private prison industry as an example one would have to assume that the company that takes the contract would be paid a set amount for every person placed on probation.
This is the first of several very important differences between prison and probation.
When a person is sentenced to prison there is a known time that he or she will remain behind bars.
This is not so with probation.
A person on probation has the possibility of being terminated early, arrested on a new charge, absconding (disappearing), violating probation and being sent to prison or jail.
Since there are several outcomes possible with probation, there is the possibility that officers hired by a private corporation would be encouraged or instructed not to file violations of probation with the court or to recommended early termination as it might reduce the profit projections for the quarter.
Officers stand to be rated on the amount of money that they bring produce and not the enforcement of laws or court orders.
The privatized system may give preferential treatment to people on probation that pay over those on probation that do not.
One can easily see where corruption and manipulation of justice can enter into the picture.
The legal system is already tainted my the effects of money based on the level of attorney a person can afford.
Now money will play a factor after sentencing.
Remember that a private corporation's reason for existing is to make a profit and a return for investors.
Other liability issues will arise with duties that a probation officers are required to perform.
Probation officers currently drive their own vehicles to perform their duties.
Many carry firearms.
They are required to visit people on probation where they live, write probation orders, request warrants for arrest, assist other law enforcement agencies with operations, investigations, arrests, and administer drug tests.
Most officers have case loads of over 50 people.
Everyone of the duties stated above has the possibility to expose a corporation to civil law suits if something should go wrong or someone decides to file a complaint with the courts.
No corporation would think of accepting a contract after realizing the legal exposure and inconsistent revenue unless they plan to reduce services to such a level where a profit can be guaranteed no matter what the situation.
The revenue numbers will prove to protect probation officers but not correctional officers.
The private prison industry is alive and well, waiting to take over wherever they can.
However, numbers may serve a key role in reversing many of the decisions that this made by Governor Scott and the Legislature.
Be sure to download and preserve the state employee salary posted by Governor Scott.
Once people can compare the level of service they now have with what the private sector will give them, only then will they understand how much money they are saving by leaving things the way they are.
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