Local inmate transitional housing cut under Department of Corrections' slashed budget

Scores of substance abuse, re-entry and transitional programs — including two local transitional houses — have been slashed or cut completely in an attempt by the Florida Department of Corrections to make up a massive budget shortfall.

FDC Secretary Julie Jones released a statement earlier this week announcing the cuts, citing a constitutional mandate to find an adequate medical vendor that trumps the need for those programs.

The 2018-19 budget amount approved by lawmakers did not provide enough to cover an adequate medical vendor, according to Jones' statement, so multiple other areas were cut to make up the $28 million reduction.

Among the 33 vendors reduced or eliminated was SCORE — Second Chance Outreach Re-Entry and Education of Milton, and Harbor House Group Inc. of Pensacola. FDC contracted both facilities to offer transitional housing to inmates released from custody. Those contracts with FDC will end June 30.

Harbor House program director Edward Noone said the cuts were sudden and unexplained.

“This came as really quite a surprise because there was no notice,” he said. “We just went through an annual inspection process with the Department of Corrections and everything was fine … we’ve been doing it since 2001.”

Noone said Harbor House provides a six-month stay to those with substance abuse issues, whether they seek help on their own, are released from prison or are referrals from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He said there aren’t a specific number of beds allocated in their 17-bed facility for prison releasees, but instead soon-to-be released inmates are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and must have gainful employment to keep their spot.

Program participants paid half the cost of their stay and FDC made up the rest. The savings to FDC from cutting that contract will be $15,000 in the 2018-19 budget, according to the Health Services Budget Implementation Plan provided to the News Journal from FDC.

SCORE's contract cancellation will net a savings of $177,630. A representative from SCORE could not be reached for comment Friday.

Noone declined to disclose the daily rate participants pay, but he said Harbor House’s plan is to continue charging prison releasees that same rate and absorbing the additional costs.

He said the program provides more than recovery, also tackling issues of budgeting, finding gainful employment and reducing recidivism.

“There’s so many people that are going to be affected by this (statewide), I don’t know what they’re going to do,” he said.

Jones’ statement, released Tuesday, also references cuts to maintenance, repair and utilities to reduce costs internally.

“In order to secure a health services contractor, fund the increase pharmaceutical budget, and adjust for reductions, we’ve unfortunately had to make some very difficult decisions … . It is our hope that these decisions, while necessary given the circumstances, are temporary and a positive working partnership with our community partners can continue in the future.”

Sen. Doug Broxson, who has spent much of the last year focused on exploring causes in the spike in deaths at Florida prisons, said he spoke with Jones earlier this week about the decision.

"She indicated to me it was very, very painful to make those decisions," he said. "We've got to make sure these people can do their jobs and have a safe environment, and I'm certain with the Governor's Office, the House and the Senate, we can come up with a way to deal with this issue in a more permanent capacity."

Broxson said part of the issue is that an estimated 70 percent of new inmates arrive with a substance abuse issue that requires medical care, which has greatly increased the department's need for medical dollars.

He said the appropriations chairman is working with the House and in the next few weeks hopes to have a "Band-aid" on the situation until next legislative session.

The Florida Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform sent a press release Thursday calling for a special session to analyze the nixing of programs designed to help inmates transition from prison to productive lives to make up the shortfall.

“Cutting rehabilitation programs may save money in the short-term, but will cause more harm to Floridians in the long-term,” said Scott McCoy, senior policy counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a partner of FLCCJR. “It is neither sustainable nor effective to operate a system that relies on mass incarceration and fails to prioritize rehabilitation.”

American Civil Liberties Union political director Kirk Bailey said the cuts were an avoidable problem, predicting increased recidivism and more taxpayer money wasted as a result.

“It’s past time to actually address the problem by releasing low-risk offenders out of jails and prisons and by focusing on rehabilitation services that allow individuals to safely and successfully return to their communities,” Bailey said in the FLCCJR statement.

Many of the substance-dependent inmates released from prison who want to get clean don’t want to return to their pre-incarceration neighborhoods, Noone said. For many who do return to those areas, it’s too easy to slip into old habits, but FDC requires inmates give a residential address when they’re released so without resources like transitional houses those releasees often return.

“To break that cycle it’s important they don’t just end up doing the same thing over and over again,” Noone said.

Emma Kennedy can be reached at ekennedy@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.