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Non-profits rebut Corrections’ accusations on re-entry programs

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An Orlando-based nonprofit says the state’s Department of Corrections is wrongly trying to discredit a POLITICO Florida report showing that it “misled” the public about shutting down community based re-entry centers. Bridges of America, one of several outside organizations helping ex-cons and others, also said DOC “continues to fail to address that they don’t have the authority to bypass the same lawmakers they are now trying to mislead, again.” The organization issued a press release with the following points, including…

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‘No evidence’ GEO Group behind prisoner rehab grab

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The head of a nonprofit that runs prisoner re-entry programs in the state said she had “no evidence” her group and others were being muscled out by private prison operator The GEO Group. But, Lori Costantino-Brown quickly added, there’s been a “lot of speculation” that the company has somehow been involved. Costantino-Brown, president and CEO of Orlando-based Bridges of America, held a press conference Thursday in Tallahassee with other care providers. The Department of Corrections has been targeting Bridges in particular as…

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Miami Herald loses appeal of “black outs” in public records

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A Florida appeals court has ruled that state agencies don’t have to give a specific reason when they black out an individual bit of information in a document produced under a public-records request. Specifically, a three-judge panel of the the 1st District Court of Appeal said the state’s “Public Records Act does not require agencies to specifically identify the statutory exemption relied upon for each redaction on a redaction-by-redaction basis.” But one of the judges separately warned that Monday’s opinion…

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Department of Corrections settles case over Bridges of America program shutdown

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The battle over Broward Bridge is over. The state’s Department of Corrections and Bridges of America announced a settlement Wednesday afternoon. The state had been planning to pull the plug on Broward Bridge, a residential program offering transitional counseling, drug treatment and other services to inmates on work release. Bridges, the Orlando-based nonprofit that runs the program, had been waging a PR battle to keep the facility open. About 89 percent of men who start the Broward program successfully complete it, according to Bridges. Overall, only 10…

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Today on Context Florida: Greg Evers, loving Hispanics, demagogues and the ‘real America’

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Today on Context Florida: Peter Schorsch asks: How many times can Department of Corrections officials tick off Greg Evers before they’re really in for it? Last week at a news conference, Evers dropped the bomb that Corrections Secretary Julie Jones and one of her top aides had “lied” to him about the closing of a Broward County prisoner re-entry program. (Evers didn’t name Jones, but a department spokesman confirmed that’s who he had spoken with.) The question now is: When does…

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Broward delegation protests closure of Bridges of America program

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Almost all of Broward County’s legislative delegation is telling Gov. Rick Scott: Keep the Bridge open. In a new letter, 17 of the county’s members in the House and Senate — 16 of them Democrats — are the latest lawmakers to protest the Department of Corrections’ planned shutdown of a prisoner re-entry program. “The impact of this decision … affects several layers of our communities, from the work release inmates, to the Bridges employees at the facility, to the families of the…

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Inmates now suing over state shutdown of prisoner re-entry program

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At least three inmates have filed suit in Tallahassee over the Department of Corrections‘ shutdown of a south Florida prisoner re-entry program. Michael Brammer, John McDougle and Douglas Rahn sued in Leon County Circuit Court late Monday, records show. They seek a court order preventing the state from closing Broward Bridge, a residential program offering transitional counseling, drug treatment and other services to inmates on work release. Bridges of America, the Orlando-based nonprofit that runs the program, has been waging a PR…

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