News & Reports

This six-page, easy-to-read summary of the history, progress, procedures and goals of DOC's transition program is an excellent review of the subject. Weaknesses in the current program are pointed out and blamed on lack of funding during hard times. Educational programs, the restoration of civil rights, job placement, the substance abuse program, community work release, housing, and mental health issues are described, as are legislative initiatives to date. A lot of information is packed into this document. The whole story isn't here, but this brief is a good start.

From the Horses' Mouths ...

"Prison University -- Enrolling California Students Now" by Elena Morris and Kim Albanese (Disenfranchised Republicans), Co-founders, 21st Century TEA Party for Criminal Justice Reform. (California Progress Report, June 13, 2008)

"Why have we been so slow to learn that incarceration without rehabilitation doesn’t work? America’s prisons have become a massive black hole, eating up billions of tax dollars better spent on the education of our children."

"Jails Packed? Cut Recidivism" by Caterina Gouvis Roman and John Roman. (Urban Institute, June 13, 2008)

"Overcrowded jails and more spending for incarceration aren't predestined. In a Philadelphia Daily News commentary, two Urban Institute researchers explain how programs to help repeat offenders return successfully to society can cut crime and save money."

Authoritative Reports:

OPPAGA (Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability). "Department of Corrections Should Maximize Use of Best Practices in Inmate Rehabilitation Efforts"

"The department is following many, but not all, best practices for inmate rehabilitative programs. The department is implementing a new research-based instrument to better target rehabilitative services to inmates with the highest risk of reoffending following release. The department also is providing rehabilitative programs that address most inmate criminogenic needs (i.e., attributes directly linked to recidivism). However, it provides limited therapy to address criminal thinking. The department is planning to restructure the 100-hour transition course that inmates must take before they leave prison to include coursework on changing criminal thinking."

OPPAGA (Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability). "Faith- and Character-Based Prison Initiative Yields Institutional Benefits; Effect on Recidivism Modest "

"Florida’s faith- and character-based initiative is a volunteer-staffed program that offers religious and life skills programs in 11 Florida prisons. Inmate participation is voluntary and inmates of any faith are eligible. No state funds are expended on the initiative. The initiative operates prison-wide in four correctional institutions and in specified dorms in seven institutions. The prison-wide programs have a demonstrated positive effect on inmate institutional adjustment and institutional security, and a modest but positive effect on reducing the likelihood that inmates will reoffend. The dorm-based programs also have a positive effect on institutional adjustment and security; however, they do not have a demonstrated effect on inmate recidivism."

Pew Foundation. "One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008"

"Three decades of growth in America’s prison population has quietly nudged the nation across a sobering threshold: for the first time, more than one in every 100 adults is now confined in an American jail or prison. According to figures gathered and analyzed by the Pew Public Safety Performance Project, the number of people behind bars in the United States continued to climb in 2007, saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime."

The JFA Institute. "Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America's Prison Population" (November 2007)

"President Bush was right. A prison sentence for Lewis “Scooter” Libby was excessive—so too was the long three year probation term. But while he was at it, President Bush should have commuted the sentences of hundreds of thousands of Americans who each year have also received prison sentences for crimes that pose little if any danger or harm to our society."

The Office’s primary functions are: "(1) to assure full and expeditious compliance with Florida’s open government and public records laws, and (2) to provide training to all executive agencies under my purview on transparency and accountability. The Office will also have primary responsibility for ensuring that the Office of the Governor complies with public records requests in an expeditious manner."

Florida residents don't realize how much easier it is to access public documents here than in other states. We applaud Governor Crist's commitment to sunshine on the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government. We have had only positive experiences with this department.

Click here for more information on Governor Crist's Agency for Open Government and obtaining copies of public records.