While Florida faces a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall and billions more in financial liabilities, the current fiscal crisis has provided the opportunity to look for innovative ways to right-size government and transform the way it operates, particularly in one of its most costly areas – the corrections system.
“Florida’s current system is riddled with significant obstacles to the rehabilitation of offenders, which is costing the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds of millions, each year at the front- and back-end of the system,” saidDominic M. Calabro, President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. “A new paradigm is needed that holds offenders accountable while ensuring they have the training, education, and life skills to successfully reenter society and not return to prison, which enhances public safety and saves taxpayer dollars. The full continuum of care approach, from entry into the correction system through full reintegration into the community, is needed to achieve these goals.”
In partnership with the Reason Foundation, Florida TaxWatch explores the cost-savings and improved outcomes of public-private partnerships (PPP) in a recently released Briefing, Corrections 2.0: A Proposal to Create a Continuum of Care in Corrections through Public-Private Partnerships. The Briefing details a comprehensive public-private partnership model that coordinates the currently fragmented corrections system to achieve significant short- and long-term savings, increase return on investment, and reduce the amount of people who recidivate – or come back to prison.
Click here to view the full Briefing, Corrections 2.0: A Proposal to Create a Continuum of Care in Corrections through Public-Private Partnerships, or visitwww.FloridaTaxWatch.org.
