During the week after New Year’s, Florida lawmakers are slated to come back into Tallahassee for the start of committee weeks. And, on their first day back, one Senate panel is looking at ways to help Florida’s troubled prison system.
First, Senate Criminal Justice Committee members will hear introductory remarks from the panel’s chair: Republican Senator Greg Evers.
Then, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is expected to do a presentation on the status of its investigation into unnatural inmate deaths at the Florida Department of Corrections—a task they took over this year as part of a series of prison reforms.
They’ll also hear a presentation from George Mallinckrodt, a former mental health counselorwho worked in the same psychiatric unit where a mentally ill inmate died at Dade Correctional Institution, after he was allegedly kept in a scalding hot shower by prison guards.
In addition, the Project on Accountable Justice at Florida State University’s chairman Allison DeFoor will outline a series of recommendations released in a reportwhere they see Florida’s prison system needs help. That includes a look at the Corrections’ Secretary term in office as well as creating an oversight body that looks at criminal justice issues.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rob Bradley (R-Fleming Island) has taken those same two elements from the PAJ's report, and included them in a bill (SB 212) he filed last week. It revises the method of appointing the Corrections' Secretary and creates the Florida Corrections Commission within the department.
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