THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX AT WORK IN FLORIDA

Despite the state's budget crisis, the Florida Legislature authorized $65
million on an emergency basis to build more prison cells (Nation/ World,
Aug. 15). The cited emergency was an unexpectedly sharp rise in the number
of new inmates. The politicians called this rise surprising because crime
rates in the state are at their lowest in almost three decades.

There should have been no surprise. The spurt in new prison admittees, as
well as the Legislature's knee-jerk response to it, are clear examples of
the prison industrial complex at work. The businesses and bureaucrats that
profit from incarceration and the politicians who profit from those
businesses have combined to line their pockets and feather their nests.

A little background first: In 1961, in his last speech as president, Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower presciently warned against the "military industrial
complex," which he defined as the "conjunction of an immense military
establishment and a large arms industry" whose "influence - economic,
political, even spiritual - is felt in every city, every state house, every
office of the federal government."

In December 1998, an important article in The Atlantic analogized to
President Eisenhower's example in describing the "prison industrial
complex," which the author, Eric Schlosser, defined as "a set of
bureaucratic, political, and economic interests that encourage increased
spending on imprisonment, regardless of the actual need." Schlosser went on
to document the workings of the prison industrial complex in California,
New York, Texas and other states.

Florida could well have been included. Over the last generation, many
corporations have profited handsomely from the building and maintaining of
our sprawling state prison system. They want to continue to profit, so they
contribute generously to those politicians who will vote for new prison
expenditures.

The bureaucracy needed to run Florida's prisons has also enlarged
substantially, from administrators down to the guards. These people want to
keep their jobs, so they too reward the politicians who support them, with
money and votes - and by locating new prisons in the supporters' districts
if they have that power.

All this works to the benefit of those in political power, so our
governors, Democratic and Republican, have sought dramatic increases in the
state's prison system, and our legislators, Democratic and Republican, have
voted overwhelmingly in favor of them.

The Legislature's recent action is a textbook example of this process. The
primary reason for the recent spurt of new prisoners is increased drug
convictions. Beginning two years ago, the Legislature started cutting drug
treatment programs, both in prison and for those on probation - a
cost-saving device that removed about $14 million from the state budget.
You don't have be a rocket scientist to conclude that if the treatment
programs had continued, many of those now going (or returning) to prison
would be doing something different with their lives.

So we saved $14 million but it is now costing us $65 million. It seems
stupid - unless you're part of the prison industrial complex and stand to
profit from all that taxpayer money. Sixty-five million dollars will go to
businesses and bureaucrats who will take their cut and then pass a lot of
it back to the politicians in the form of political contributions.

Robert Batey is a professor at Stetson University College of Law and lives
in Gulfport.