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| Officials of prison company suspended |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/21/2004 |
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The CEO and president of the nonprofit company that sells items made by Florida prisoners have been suspended by the company's board as auditors probe loans the firm made to affiliates. The board of Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, or PRIDE, suspended CEO Pamela Jo Davis and president John F. Bruels for 60 days. The board chairman, Maria Camila Leiva, said the board doesn't believe the two did anything wrong, but wanted to ``guarantee that there is not even the appearance of conflict.'' Davis is paid by a spinoff firm and will continue to be during her suspension, said PRIDE spokeswoman Evelyn Knight. Bruels was suspended with pay. Gov. Jeb Bush's inspector general's office is investigating PRIDE's relationship with four companies that were created as part of a restructuring of PRIDE meant to help find outlets for prison-made products. PRIDE lent money to at least one of the affiliated companies, Industries Training Corp., to get it started and then hired it to run prison work programs without seeking other bids, according to a December legislative audit. That audit expressed concerns about some of the same issues the governor's inspector general's office is looking into. The legislative auditors said all the board members of Industries Training Corp. are either current or former PRIDE board members, and that complicated arrangements between the two companies made it difficult to make sure the money PRIDE makes is being properly plowed back into prisoner training. |
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