News & Public Affairs
Nine Republicans jump ship to help sink prison privatization plan in Florida Senate listen
02/15/12 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: privatization, Prison privatization, prisons, JD Alexander, Mike Fasano, Steve Oelrich, 2012 Legislative session
An attempt to privatize some prisons in Florida has been defeated … for now. A bill under consideration by the Senate would have reduced state spending on prisons by turning over more than two dozen south Florida facilities to private companies. Nine Republicans jumped ship to join the minority Democrats to shoot down the bill.
Opponents warn that privatization of state prisons leads to a loss of accountability and could increase costs to the state. But supporters, including Republican S...
Be the first to commentImmigrants and supporters oppose harsh immigration bills in Tallahassee - interview with Rev. Charles McKenzie listen
04/14/11 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: immigration, Charles McKenzie, 2011 Legislative session, Florida Legislature, SB 1070, prisons
Immigrants and their supporters spoke in Tallahassee yesterday to oppose a bill they say is eerily similar to a harsh Arizona law that cracks down on immigrants. One local participant at the Senate Budget Committee meeting was Rev. Charles McKenzie. He is state coordinator of Rainbow PUSH Coalition and a volunteer with Unidos Now. WMNF spoke with him this afternoon about immigration bills being considered by the Florida Legislature.
Be the first to comment"We went into the session and the executive in charge of...
House committee passes budget that could lead to privatization of some prisons listen
03/30/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida House of Representatives, prisons, privatization, recession, Florida Legislature, budget
The Florida House Committee on Appropriations approved that chamber’s version of the state budget along party lines today. The $66.5 billion proposal includes massive cuts to corrections, higher education, and cancer research.
All eight Democratic budget subcommittee members voted against the house proposal. All Republicans in attendance voted for the measure, which would close a $3.7 billion gap without raising taxes – something promised on many a campaign trail in the lead-up to the 2010...
Be the first to commentPeace Walkers plan walk in Tampa listen
11/05/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
A group is in Tampa this week as part of their thirteen-month walk for peace across the country. They will be walking tomorrow in South Tampa beginning at Bayshore and South Howard at 1 p.m. Audri Scott Williams is one of the peace walkers.
Be the first to commentInterview with author Walter Dean Myers Part II listen
09/29/10 Dawn Morgan ElliottWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: youth, prisons, books, author interview
Award-winning author Walter Dean Myers published two young adult novels in 2010. The first one was Lockdown, about an inner city youth who gets two years in juvenile detention for breaking and entering. The second book, The Crusiers, is about slacker students at an exclusive school for gifted students in Harlem.
WMNF’s Dawn Morgan Elliott spoke with the Myers on communicating with young adults, saving juveniles in the prison system, and how young people handle the seriousness of his s...
Be the first to commentTexas Tough: The Rise Of America's Prison Empire
04/06/10 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: prisons, convict leasing, chain gangs, Robert Perkinson, crack cocaine, African Americans
Why has the United States built the largest prison system in the world- with more than 2.4 million people behind bars? Why have racial disparities in criminal justice worsened over the past two decades, despite landmark victories in the civil rights movement? Our guest, University of Hawaii history professor Robert Perkinson, has written TEXAS TOUGH which traces the history of the prison system in the US from the era of slavery, through Jim Crow to today. Perkinson writes that Texas has bee...
Be the first to commentVictor Crist discusses the prison population listen
02/24/09 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Victor Crist, prisons, penal system
Last night on the Evening News, we reported on a proposal by business lobbyist Barney Bishop to have early release for some 3,900 inmates in Florida prisons.
He made his proposal because he says the state can’t afford to build new prisons.
There are plans for at least three major prisons, which would cost 1,300 prisoner a piece. The estimated cost for those three would be $300 million.
Victor Crist is the chairman of the Justice Appropriations Committee in the Florida Senate. The lon...
Be the first to commentState to take over prison food services listen
11/14/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida economy, prisons, food service
Budget cuts are affecting every aspect of state government, including state prisons.
Earlier this year, state legislation ordered the Department of Corrections to reduce its $83.9 million food service budget by more than $9 million.
To do that, the Legislature wanted the vendors employed by the state, Aramark and Trinity Food Services, to cut back on calories served and to reduce their staff.
But that didn’t work out, and now the state will soon be using another vendor, and will be...
Be the first to commentGroups back alternatives to incarceration
03/04/08 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Tuesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: prisons
Finn Kavanagh, vice president and regional director of Phoenix House, and Sara Romeo, executive director and CEO of Tampa Crossroads Inc. joined us to discuss an alternative to building more state prisons. It's being backed by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
Here's how The Florida Alchohol And Drug Abuse Association described it: "Florida finds itself in an untenable situation; there are not enough state resources to support the prison construction needed over the next five years. Today ther...
Be the first to commentEx-corrections chief blasted prison food service
02/22/08 Mitch E. PerryWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida, prisons, Aramark
Last week, WMNF reported on a rally held in Miami by labor and community leaders calling for an investigation of Aramark’s food service contract with Florida’s Department of Corrections.
The activists referenced an audit by a Florida Inspector General which found that Aramark was collecting “windfall profits” from its contract with the state, and that by doing the work for itself, the state could save approximately $7-million a year.
But instead of firing the company, the state gave A...
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