Politics

Prison program gets support

The corrections chief wants to abolish PRIDE, but legislators may block that idea.

By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Tallahassee Bureau Chief
Published November 1, 2007

Former prison inmate Edward Haycraft, 48, works at his job as a digital print operator in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
	[Willie J. Allen, Jr. | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Willie J. Allen, Jr. | Times] "I got out with the clothes on my back... (PRIDE) Helped me when I got out," said Edward Randolf Haycraft, 48, a digital press operator at Sprint Print in St. Petersburg.

TALLAHASSEE -- The Crist administration's proposal to replace a privately operated prison work program with one run by the state has hit bipartisan roadblocks, even before a plan has been formally submitted.

Corrections Secretary Jim McDonough has said he will ask legislators to abolish PRIDE Enterprises, the St. Petersburg nonprofit that has run Florida's inmate work programs without taxpayer money since 1981.

But PRIDE is vigorously defending itself and legislators who oversee the prison system budget scoff at McDonough's claim that he can employ more inmates without requiring an infusion of taxpayer dollars.

"It won't work," said Republican Sen. Victor Crist of Tampa. "The Department of Corrections is not in business to run a business."

Crist, chairman of the Senate budget committee that controls criminal justice spending, said he applauds McDonough's eagerness to find work for more idle inmates.

"But I don't think the best way to do this is bringing it in-house," said Sen. Crist, who's not related to the governor. "The department is already huge, and they have a lot they are responsible for. By bringing PRIDE in-house, it could be a stepchild, rather than the star it should be."

PRIDE, which stands for Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, has about 250 employees and gets most of its revenue from goods manufactured by inmates and sold to government, such as shoes, uniforms, furniture and license plates. Sales last year totaled $78-million.

Former inmates praise PRIDE for helping them adjust to society. Edward Haycraft, 48, of Tampa, learned how to operate a press while serving six years for attempted sexual battery and now holds a steady job at a St. Petersburg printing company.

Upon his release 2-1/2 years ago, Haycraft said, he had nothing, but PRIDE gave him $100 and a voucher for bus rides so he could find a job. Haycraft said he has stayed out of trouble, other than a dispute with his landlady that provoked a violation of probation charge earlier this year.

"These people, I praise them," Haycraft said of PRIDE. "What they do for guys coming out is very commendable."

Florida's prison system is the nation's third largest, with a $2.3-billion annual budget, more than 94,000 inmates and 153,000 offenders under supervision.

The prison population lately has been rising faster than experts had projected, and the agency, like most, is now forced to get by with less money because of recent budget cuts.

Republican Rep. Mitch Needelman of Melbourne, who tracks criminal justice issues in the House, also opposes the PRIDE takeover plan. In a letter to McDonough, he said many of his assertions about PRIDE are "dubious at best" and his major concern was the cost.

A senior Democrat, Rep. Jack Seiler of Wilton Manors, is also against dismantling PRIDE. Citing the "vision" of drugstore magnate Jack Eckerd, a Republican, and former Gov. Bob Graham, a Democrat, Seiler called PRIDE "one of the greatest bipartisan success stories of the last 30 years."

In a letter this week to Gov. Charlie Crist, Seiler wrote: "I am very troubled to learn of this idea -- especially now, when Florida faces shrinking state revenues and the prospect of even worse budget forecasts in the near future."

Such strong bipartisan resistance means McDonough and Gov. Crist, may have to step up their efforts to put PRIDE out of business.

When they do, they will tangle with one of the Capitol's most seasoned lobbyists, Guy Spearman. He has represented PRIDE in the Capitol for two decades and says he has talked to "a bunch" of lawmakers in defense of the program.

"Are there some things PRIDE needs to do better? Yeah," Spearman said. "We need to put more inmates to work."

Lobbyist compensation reports show Spearman earned between $10,000 and $19,999 to lobby for PRIDE during the second quarter of this year.

The agency's other lobbyist, the law firm of Roetzel & Andress, earned $53,000 during the same period. PRIDE spokesman Foster Harbin said that latter figure included substantial legal work before the state.

McDonough, an advocate of improved job-training programs to help ready inmates for re-entry into society, says PRIDE gives jobs to too few inmates and the state can do it better with no more money by diverting PRIDE's net income nearly $7-million last year into operations.

Fewer than 3 percent of inmates have PRIDE-related jobs, and tens of thousands more, who could be learning a trade or developing a work ethic, spend their days in idleness.

PRIDE says that's partly the state's fault, for buying too few products and services from the agency. The state's share of PRIDE sales has dropped sharply in recent years.

PRIDE officials also note that McDonough has not put forth a business plan, but that will occur in about two weeks, the agency says.

John Kerski, a Corrections Department operations and management expert who is helping McDonough develop the new state-run inmate work plan, said:

"We asked to open a public debate on this issue, and we're glad to see that legislators have concerns about it.We want more inmates to have industry jobs."

Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.

[Last modified October 31, 2007, 23:00:06]