FL Belle Glade Prison Expected To Close Dec. 1
The state Department of Corrections has decided Glades Correctional Institution in Belle Glade will close Dec. 1, the state representative for the area said last week, marking yet another blow to the already struggling region.
State Rep. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, said DOC Secretary Ken Tucker told him and others that the 250 employees of the prison will get notice of the closure on Oct. 15. Those employees will be eligible to apply for openings elsewhere in the state prison system, including other South Florida prisons that are being privatized this fall. Report by Sun Sentinel.
The Glades Work Camp near the prison will remain open, and the 50 employees there will retain their jobs, Bernard said.
The loss of jobs in the area could cripple the area’s economy, where the unemployment rate is as high as 40 percent.
“Looking at the numbers in the Glades, where you have such high unemployment and high percentage of people in poverty and high percentage of sub-standards housing, the reaction is sad that GCI is going to close,” Bernard said. “But at the same time we have to move forward with a strategic plan to move the Glades in a different direction.”Belle Glade Mayor Steve Wilson said he hoped that state officials would work quickly to find another use for the prison building.
“I am hoping that people have the wits to understand if you are going to close it, that we find ways and means to utilize the structure to put people to work, Wilson said.
State Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, Palm Beach County lobbyist Todd Bonlarron and Gov. Rick Scott’s legislative affairs director, Jon Costello, also were at the meeting with Tucker, Bernard said.
The group was told that the state hoped to have a contract in place for privatization of South Florida prisons by Nov. 1 and that employees would have the option of applying for positions at the privatized prisons, meaning they would have to move out of the area, Bernard said.
GCI was not designated for privatization.
Closing the prison will significantly worsen the already dire budget shortfall facing the fledgling Glades Utility Authority. The utility’s budget assumes that the prison, its largest customer, will continue to pay base water and sewer charges, even if it closes its doors.
County Commissioner Jess Santamaria, whose district includes the Glades, said the region needs federal money to help keep it afloat.
“It is just never ending, one calamity after another,” Santamaria said. “To me, this is what the government is supposed to help. It is no different than a flood, or a hurricane, or an earthquake. You come to the aid. It just doesn’t make sense.”Jim Baiardi, president of the Police Benevolent Association for state correctional officers, said that DOC officials had not yet contacted the PBA about the decision to shut down Glades. The union will probably ask to bargain with the department to ensure GCI workers get other jobs within the state prison system, but some guards may not be willing to relocate, Baiardi said.
The shutdown of the prison will be difficult for the community to absorb, he said.
“It’s hard to deal with that situation particularly because there’s not a lot of options for them to go to work somewhere else,” Baiardi said. “They’re not only hurting the officers who work there and the facility itself, but also the community. There’s just no winner in that. It’s just a lose-lose all the way around.”