A legislative budget panel Wednesday approved transferring $8.2 million to pay for the continued deployment of Florida National Guard members at state prisons until June.
The Joint Legislative Budget Commission, which is made up of House and Senate members and can make mid-year budget decisions, approved a request from the Florida Department of Corrections. National Guard members have worked at prisons for more than two years as the correctional system has struggled with high job-vacancy rates and an increase in the number of inmates.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order in September 2022 to begin using National Guard members at prisons and has issued a series of extensions. In December, DeSantis issued an order saying another six-month extension was necessary “because ongoing staffing shortages, although much improved, continue to threaten the safety of officers, inmates, and the public.”
Information presented at Wednesday’s meeting said 283 National Guard members are working at prisons. The Department of Corrections’ request for the $8.2 million said activation of National Guard members will expire June 9 and that the latest extension “will provide a phased demobilization effort.” But during Wednesday’s meeting, Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo, D-Sunny Isles Beach, questioned the repeated extensions.
“This was a temporary measure that is not so temporary,” Pizzo said.
–News Service of Florida
