By Mark Baratelli
The City of Orlando will once again use unpaid prison inmate work squads (formerly known as chain gangs) to landscape the city April 30, 2018 thru April 29, 2019. The 12 month contract is between the City of Orlando and the Florida Department of Corrections for Maintenance and Landscaping Services.
The City of Orlando will once again use unpaid prison inmate work squads (formerly known as chain gangs) to landscape the city April 30, 2018 thru April 29, 2019. The 12 month contract is between the City of Orlando and the Florida Department of Corrections for Maintenance and Landscaping Services.
The City will pay the salaries and position-related expenses of the assigned correction officers ($57,497) but not inmate labor.
In 2017, Florida prisoner work squads performed 3.15 million hours of work valued at more than $38 million statewide as reported by The Interceptor.
The Department will provide two, five-person inmate work squads and two corrections officers to supervise the inmates for forty hours per week.
Using these crews significantly reduces the cost of landscape maintenance throughout the City, according to the City.
We told you back in 2016 that the City does this. But back then they at least were given what's called gain time: "The department is authorized to grant deductions from sentences in the form of gain-time in order to encourage satisfactory prisoner behavior, to provide incentive for prisoners to participate in productive activities, and to reward prisoners who perform outstanding deeds or services."
The Department will provide two, five-person inmate work squads and two corrections officers to supervise the inmates for forty hours per week.
Using these crews significantly reduces the cost of landscape maintenance throughout the City, according to the City.
We told you back in 2016 that the City does this. But back then they at least were given what's called gain time: "The department is authorized to grant deductions from sentences in the form of gain-time in order to encourage satisfactory prisoner behavior, to provide incentive for prisoners to participate in productive activities, and to reward prisoners who perform outstanding deeds or services."
No gain time deductions are mentioned in the contract.
The Contract may be renewed for up to a three (3) year period, in whole or part, after the initial Contract period, The Department "shall, to the maximum extent possible, maintain stability in the inmate work force assigned to the work squad on a day-to-day basis in order to maximize the effectiveness of the work squad." The Department is responsible for "the apprehension of an escapee and handling of problem inmates." "The Department shall be responsible for administering all disciplinary action taken against an inmate for infractions committed while performing work under this Contract."
"Chain gangs were reintroduced in Florida in 1995... Rather than (convict leasing) leasing out convicts to private entities, inmate labor is now provided to Florida’s Department of Transportation, Division of Forestry, and nonprofit organizations... Rather than “chain gangs,” they’re now referred to as 'work squads.'" -Source
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Today chain gangs are called "work squads" by the Florida Department of Corrections. The treatment is not as deplorable as it was before chain gangs were outlawed in 1940 then... brought back in 19935.