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"Governor Crist wants to maintain drug penalties"

By William Gelin

       Perry Thurston                    Victor CristMIAMI HERALD:"The state's prison population is expected to swell at year's end to a record 100,000, about 20 percent of whom are non-violent drug offenders convicted of crimes such as trafficking and simple possession. And some legislators have wondered aloud and in private how the state can afford to pay for it now that Florida's economy is sagging and crime is rising. It costs more than $19,000 a year to lock up an inmate, not counting the millions it will cost to build two prisons per year through 2013 to keep up with prison-population growth. While no legislator has filed a bill to decriminalize drug laws outright, the Senate and House are considering measures that allow some inmates early and supervised work release, that establish a commission to review mandatory-minimum prison sentences -- a legacy of the drug war -- and that lessen penalties for driving with a suspended license...continue to full post

Full post as published by JAABlog on March 15, 2008 (boomark / email).