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| Gov. Bush under fire for plan to make counties pay for juvenile jails |
| By South Florida Sun-Sentinel |
| Published: 01/26/2004 |
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If Gov. Jeb Bush has his way, Florida counties could find themselves responsible for most of the cost of running the state's juvenile jails. And that has some local leaders and juvenile justice specialists balking. "I can think of few things more disastrous than this kind of cost-shifting from state to local government," said Broward County Administrator Roger Desjarlais. "It's balancing the state budget on the backs of local governments, which means the governor and the Legislature no longer have to be accountable for generating revenue." The state Department of Juvenile Justice runs 25 jails and regional detention centers across the state. They have about 2,000 beds, including 428 in South Florida. Young inmates at the centers typically have been accused of committing felonies. They stay at the centers while their cases go through the court system or until the state can find long-term programs for them. Recently, those centers have come under intense legislative scrutiny, with the deaths of two teens in the Pinellas and Miami-Dade regional detention centers last spring. In his proposed budget released last Tuesday, Bush outlined a plan for counties to pay $68.6 million, which is 89 percent of the cost for nine months. In explaining the plan, Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary W. G. "Bill" Bankhead said the governor wants the system to be run like the adult system. That means counties would cover the cost of jailing a juvenile suspect until a judge disposed of the case. Then the state would take over. Bush proposed a similar plan last year, but it didn't make it through the budget process. It's too early to determine its chances this year, Desjarlais said. But if it did pass, county residents could see the cost burden dropped directly onto their shoulders. |
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