Private Prisons Bill Voted Down In Florida Senate, Thwarting Massive Expansion

[Swede]

Too dang close.

The Florida Senate narrowly defeated a bill this week that would have handed over management of more than two dozen state prisons to private corporations -- the largest-ever attempt at prison privatization in the nation.

The contentious measure was defeated despite getting the endorsement of powerful state Republican lawmakers, including Gov. Rick Scott and a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party. The Wall Street corporations that own and operate for-profit prisons were closely attuned to the vote in Florida, hoping for a major expansion of management contracts in the nation's third-largest prison system.






http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/private-prisons-florida-senate_n_1279822.html