New Study: Florida Can Save More Than $71 Million on Corrections System

Florida TaxWatch and the Reason Foundation teamed up to create a study on how government and businesses can work together to reform the corrections system. The study, entitled Corrections 2.0: A Proposal to Create a Continuum of Care in Corrections through Public-Private Partnerships, can be found here. The study estimate that Florida can save between $71.2 million and $101.7 million through reforms resulting from public-private partnerships (PPPs).

Floridas current system is riddled with significant obstacles to the rehabilitation of offenders, which is costing the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds of millions, each year at the front- and back-end of the system, said Dominic M. Calabro, president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. We need to seize the opportunity in the crisis by creating an open dialogue between the public and private sectors to find innovative ways to create a higher performing, more accountable corrections system that operates at a lower cost and doesnt compromise public safety.

PPPs are already helping correctional agencies like the FDOC to control costs and deliver quality inmate rehabilitation services and programming, said Leonard Gilroy of the Reason Foundation, who helped write the study. Extending the PPP model to create a continuum of care would better orient the system toward cost-effectiveness and performance by ensuring that offenders are always in the right place at the right time for the right programs to maximize the likelihood of their successful reintegration into society.