CHIEF OF DOC CUTS COSTS OF PRISON

TALLAHASSEE -- While much of the state was focusing on corruption in
the Department of Corrections that toppled his predecessor earlier
this year, Secretary James McDonough couldn't ignore e-mails from
families of inmates.

Many were similar to this: "I have had to bear the brunt of high
phone bills, outrageous canteen prices and banking fees, just so my
fiance could have a hint of normalcy," one woman wrote. "I don't take
away the fact that my fiance did something wrong and had to pay for
his mistakes, but I have often felt that I too was being punished.
After all, it is the families that have to pay."

The e-mails have led McDonough to partly reverse a national trend of
generating profit from inmates. Since McDonough replaced James Crosby
in February, he has cut fees on prisoners' bank accounts, reduced
price hikes in canteens that sell items to inmates and cut the cost
of long-distance collect calls by 30 percent.

McDonough classifies the reaction from inmates' families as
"absolutely shocked."

"I started thinking, 'There but for the grace of God go I,' "
McDonough said. "If I had a loved one in prison, if they wanted to
call me, I'd take the phone call. If I couldn't afford it, I'd take
the phone call because that's it, that's the only connection you have."

McDonough also reduced the fees on inmates' bank accounts that are
held by each prison, calling the previous charge of $1 per week "usurious."

That fee was collected regardless of how much or little an inmate spent.

McDonough reduced the fee to one percent of withdrawals, and also
reduced the weekly withdrawal limit from $100 to $65 to counter
entrepreneurial inmates who purchase items and resell them.

He also eliminated fees on deposits from the Veterans Administration
for inmates who had served in the military and for special-needs
withdrawals for things like birthday gifts for family outside of prison.

"That money (in inmate bank accounts) was coming from family. So,
sort of the same logic again, who are we really gouging?" McDonough said.

McDonough also has eliminated the ability of the contractor that
operates prison canteens -- Keefe Commissary -- to raise costs 10
percent every six months. The contract now allows the increase only
once a year. A subcontractor with Keefe was at the center of a
kickback scheme that led to Crosby's firing and looming prison time.

McDonough said there was no reason for twice-a-year increases "except
that it was profit, making big money."

The cut in phone call fees means a drop from about $17 million
collected by the agency annually to $7 million. And the bank fee cut
will cost the agency about $800,000.

That's not a big deal in an agency with an annual budget of nearly
$2.3 billion. But it also puts McDonough at odds with a Legislature
that has cut the agency's budget with orders to make up the
difference with increased inmate fees.

McDonough said the Legislature's proposal of hiking bank fees to $6
per month on all inmates would not have made up the $5 million that
was cut from the agency's budget this year. He called the plan
"complete and utter artificiality" and said he will push for less
circuitous funding next year.

Legislators who chair the justice appropriations committees did not
return calls requesting comment.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office will receive $1.6 million from
"inmate phone commissions" at the county jail, according to the
agency's 2006- 2007 budget report.

And Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said Sunday he has no intention of
dropping the fees.

"I absolutely will not cut the costs to the inmates at the county
jail," Judd said. "I intend the inmates to pay all they can to
relieve the tax burden of the hardworking folks of Polk County.

"They can avoid all the costs by staying out of the county jail and
behaving," he said.

Information on how much Polk County Jail inmates are charged to use a
telephone or the specifics of any other fees incurred by inmates was
not available Sunday night.

Groups who champion inmates' rights welcome McDonough's changes.

"It's certainly a breath of fresh air," said Randall Berg, executive
director of the Florida Justice Institute.

Berg's group sued the Legislature over the implementation of banking
fees in 2004. He said the use of fees and collection of profit from
phone calls is "penny-wise, pound-foolish."

"We want these people to not go back to prison," Berg said. "If we
cut them off from family members and friends, then obviously once
they get out they'll have no support and be more likely to go back to prison."

McDonough says concern about inmates' health and fiscal well-being
does not mean soft treatment. He said a well-fed inmate with hopes
for the future presents fewer problems. "There's nothing that says
you have to be soft and fuzzy," McDonough said. "There is the idea of
firmness, but also fairness."

McDonough hasn't commented on whether he'd stay as secretary when
Gov. Jeb Bush leaves in January. But he has a long-term vision of
refining the DOC's approach with prisoners.

In a video shown to agency employees earlier this year, he urged
workers to avoid cursing on the job.

"We're a professional outfit," he said. "You don't address people who
are beholden to the rules you set with demeaning language." He also
talks at length about the problems of the mentally ill in state
prisons and has asked other state agencies to

assist in treatment programs.

He has sneaked into prison food lines to sample meals. His review:
"It was not fine cuisine, but it was good." He's also asked clergy in
the prison to keep tabs on whether inmates have enough time to eat.

He has proposed having construction businesses train inmates for work
after they leave prison. He's also suggested using inmates to help
pick citrus crops to offset a lack of manpower in the industry.

And he's pledged to have more inmates participate in PRIDE, the
company that uses inmates to build furniture and other items for sale
to businesses and the state.

McDonough said the percentage of inmates in the program is "abysmal,"
with 1.69 percent of male inmates and 2.68 percent of female inmates
working for PRIDE, figures he'd like to see increased to 25 percent
or higher. The ultimate goal is reducing recidivism.

"If I'm right on this, then I'm saying in about five years we can
actually start building down corrections institutions because we
would have done what our name implies, we would have corrected this
behavior," McDonough said.