Jack Strickland is a retired AP writer who is active in the war against cancer. He, himself, is a survivor.
As a reporter he covered many of the major stories in Florida.
He lives in Gainesville where he is an advocate for cancer patients of all ages. Jack finds special joy in getting
sports stars and teams involved in the care young cancer victims. He claims that the athletes benefit from the involvement
as much as the patients. He says he managed to miss many tackles as a football player long ago, and learned that defeat can be
temporary and serve as the foundation for success.
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• Cinderella will wait for her brave young prince to return from war in Afghanistan - Dreams put on hold as young couple lives a Cinderella fairy tale ...
• How I got an education during night in emergency room - Special bonds made; families in distress often suffer outside and alone ...
• The children with cancer are so innocent and so helpless - A view from inside the hospital shows that life on the edge creates new heroes ...
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• They left hospital for the last time, in a red sports car - A sweet romantic interlude, a Corvette, and the battle against cancer are described by columnist Jack Strickland who watches a couple leave Shands Hospital. ...
• Explosive Gator stars Grossman, Gaffney reunite; they could march Redskins back to Super Bowl - Fun-and-gun offense Gator greats Jabar Gaffney and Rex Grossman are together again. The Washington Redskins have signed the dynamic duo. A decade ago the quarterback and wide receiver captured the imagination of the entire nation....
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• Bragging about what you’ve done can get you to the death chamber quite a bit faster - Prisoner set for execution April 12 could have learned a lot from Charles Profitt....
• FAMU professors patent new medication for schizophrenia - African-Americans suffer three times rate of schizophrenia says recent research ...
• Murder comes without any warning as rage can build in state’s prisons - Any prisoner can become dangerous and there are ways to make deadly weapons and time to do it. ...
• Many innocent may languish in prison on corrupt testimony, legislative payment shows - Dillon case, Pitts and Lee demonstrate that justice is sometimes difficult to come by in Florida...
• Clues to a murder: forensic botanist finds the little things in death - David Hall helps law enforcement trap the bad guys with botanical clues...
• Honduras jail fire recalls horrific Florida prison blaze where 38 perished amid lingering questions - A scene of racial fights, the Florida road prison in Jay exploded into fire in 1967, leaving truth yet to be fully told. ...
• Waterhouse executed proclaiming innocence - Convicted murderer Robert Waterhouse, 65, died by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Starke, with unsettling words....
• Florida Senate kisses an emotional goodbye to prison privatization - Public prisons get a valentine as senate proposal fails in a 19-21 vote; meanwhile, execution slated today...
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• Cancer patient slips away from hospital to give stranded bus riders a last Christmas gift - In his battle with cancer, he relied on city buses . . . and now he had a plan to help people who didn't know the buses were down for the day. ...
Doors have not clanked shut on privatization; Glades may be next
February 16, 2012Tallahassee
By Jack Strickland
The Florida Senate voted down expanding privatized prisons in Florida, this week. A bitterly divided Senate defeated the proposal on a 21-19 vote. It was widely reported that the issue is now dead.
Don’t be too sure.
Elected officials in powerful positions remain committed to turn Florida’s prisons over to private industry.
Governor Rick Scott and Senate President Mike Haridopolos are on record as staunch supporters of placing a major part of the Florida Department of Corrections in private hands. They have not conceded defeat.
Privatized prisons would be a gold mine for lobbyists and well connected businessmen. They will not give up easily on their efforts to run the state’s prisons. In the past year, well heeled backers of privatizing Florida’s prisons reportedly donated more than a million dollars to political campaigns in an effort to influence legislation. They are expected to contribute more than that this election year.
They argue that privatized prisons would save the taxpayers money. The facts and figures they use to support their claim are in dispute.
Florida’s venture into privatizing the prison system has been a dismal failure. The plan initiated under Governor Jeb Bush has not produced the promised savings to tax payers. In fact, it has been a failure that has resulted in chaotic conditions in the Florida Department of Corrections.
The former head of the Florida DOC, former Secretary James Crosby, is currently in federal prison serving a sentence after pleading guilty to charges of corruption in the handling of the privatization. His chief assistant, Allen Clark, was also imprisoned after he admitted that he supervised crooked deals and pocked payoff money.
The Saga continues. Last month Ed Dugger, a prominent member of the Florida Department of Corrections family, was sentenced to 26 months in federal prison for paying bribes to high ranking officials.
The sentencing papers indicated that he paid $14,000 a month for a contract awarded to Keefe, allowing that company to be the sole operator of concessions at Florida prison visiting parks. According to the reports, when Keefe secured the monopoly contract, prices of the items sold in the commissaries were tripled.
Joseph Deese was also sentenced to federal prison last month. He was sentenced to 14 months for his role in paying bribes and fixing deals with privatized contracts in Florida’s prison system.
Under Governor Jeb Bush, the state privatized food service which provided meals for prisoners throughout Florida.The contract was awarded to Aramark. A heralded program that featured prisoners serving their sentences on prison farms, where they grew the the bulk of the food they ate, was scrapped.
These farms also produced food for all of Florida’s prisons. The State of Florida terminated the state DOC food service employees who supervised the preparation and serving of the meals to prisoners. Aramark employees were hired.
Aramark reportedly reduced the cost of each meal served to prisoners and legitimately banked the profits.There were wide spread reports that Aramark provided inadequate nutrition and short changed meals as food designated for prisoners was diverted to other business interests.
Aramark did not survive as the privatized food service operator for the Florida Department of Corrections. Several privatized companies that followed them have also been business failures and no longer operate in Florida prisons. Insiders report that food service in prisons has been in chaos.
Seven state prisons in Florida are now operating under privatization. The new system has not produced the results promised. Proponents argue the system has not been given an ample opportunity to function properly.
Employees of the DOC disagree. Opposition continues to grow against any effort aimed at doing away with the Florida Department of Corrections as it now exists.
Prison employees have a strong voting block. They know how to apply political pressure. The power of their political punch was felt in the Florida Senate this week as privatization of Florida prisons went down to defeat.
Gov. Scott, Senate President Haridopolos, and their supporters and business associates also pack a powerful political punch. They will not give up the fight easily. The issue is not settled.
Legislative approval is not required to privatize single Florida prisons. The governor can do it with his executive authority. Insiders predict that Gov. Scott and President Haridipolos will abandon their efforts to privatize large blocks of prisons, as the recent legislation proposed, and focus their attention on individual prisons.
In the near future, the governor may privatize individual prisons that are high on the list of his supporters. Watch for changes in the status of two prisons in the Belle Glade area. The fight may be just beginning. Stay tuned.