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| Fla. Prisons Overflow with Drug Offenders |
| By Orlando Sentinel |
| Published: 08/27/2003 |
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Two years after Florida reduced treatment funding for prisoners, the state's prison population has blossomed with inmates imprisoned on drug-related charges, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The increase had led state lawmakers to approve $66 million in emergency funding to construct 4,000 new prison beds. The increase in prison admissions was unexpected, especially since Florida's serious-crime rate dropped to its lowest point in 30 years. But after the state legislature cut prison treatment services in 2001, drug offenders became the largest group of inmates in Florida's prison system. Last year, lawmakers cut a third of the funding for prison treatment services. This year, they have allocated $7.7 million for drug treatment for inmates. 'What we're seeing nationwide, Florida included, are inmates being released who have been in very rough prison conditions,' said Tom Blomberg, acting dean of the Florida State University School of Criminology. 'Once they get out, they are ill-prepared for today's society.' The majority of inmates in Florida prisons for drug-related charges are repeat offenders. 'The rise in prison admissions that's happening in Florida certainly seems to be bucking national trends,' said Ryan King, a research associate with the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit criminal-justice policy group. |
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