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| Florida inmates are tightening their belts |
| By BY STEVE BOUSQUET- Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau |
| Published: 02/16/2009 |
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MADISON, Fla. -- Three times a day, the inmates at Madison Correctional Institution discover what a budget deficit tastes like. The scene in the prison chow hall in this quaint North Florida town is repeated across the state as it returns to in-house food service and struggles to cut costs. While the inmate population is growing, the Legislature is cutting spending in the nation's third-largest state prison system. Florida is coping with the effects of a failed and expensive food-privatization venture of former Gov. Jeb Bush. In 2001, the state turned over most prison food operations to Aramark Corp., even after Ohio had scrapped a similar experiment, citing bad results. After seven years marked by numerous irregularities, fines for sloppy service and a state report that flagged the vendor's ''windfall'' profits, Aramark pulled out of Florida prisons last month. The firm said it could no longer make money due to rising prices of bread, milk and other staples amid pressure from the state to cut costs. A second, smaller company also left: Trinity Services Group of Oldsmar, Fla., had served meals at North Florida prisons, including Madison. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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