Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Florida Dept. of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon

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Florida Dept. of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Here it is. We are now into the third hour
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of the morning show with Preston Scott, and it's the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: final hole of the show at least for today Thursday.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: And Jose's over there in Studio one A. I am
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: here in Studio one B, and I'm pleased to have
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: with me. I'm gonna go ahead and say it a friend.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: He's a friend at this point. Now, I've over the years,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I've had a bit of an evolution. I am obviously
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: a very conservative minded person and absolutely believe tough on
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: crime and all of that. But over the last probably
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: ten to fifteen years, I've come to recognize some realities
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and this gentleman's helped me to learn a lot of
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: things about corrections and about the prison system and what
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: works and what doesn't work. And I'm really honored that
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: he's a friend. Ricky Dixon is the secretary of the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Florida Department of Corrections and joins me in studio this hour.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: How are you good?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Proud to be a friend too, and glad to be
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: with you.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I bet you hear that that people just kind of
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: get to a place where they're going. Yeah, I was wrong.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: About some things all the time.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: What do you think is the biggest misconception about your
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: line of work.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I think it depends on which side of the isle.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: You know, Folks wrong we I think we have to
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: do a better job in the profession of educating the public.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: You know, we deal with the families of of inmates
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: and their perspectives about the systems. We deal with the
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: extreme tough on crime crowd and their perspective of the system,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the victims of crime of their perspectives. But we we
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: have to blend all of those, you know, experiences and
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: try to do the best job we can at explaining
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: them all the perspectives to the individuals associated with the system.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: I'll give you an example. The you know, I'm very
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: conservative as well. I'm very tough on crime minded. I
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: think that it's a lot like raising kids. Being heavy
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: handed somewhat so to speak, causes behavior change in positive
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: ways in society and within the prison system. But not
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: to realize that, as I've shared before on this program,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: that eighty five percent of them we'll be back out
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: on the street one day, and just to pride ourselves
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: on the public safety perspective in the sense that we
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: keep them behind the fence in clear count every day.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: That's not enough. If we really care about public safety,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: we have to put out a better product, a more
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: educated individual, a you know, hopefully one that doesn't come
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: back to prison and be a burden on society but
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: contributes to it. And most of all, as I've shared before,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: when they come back, there's usually a victim associated with that.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: So that's the message to our correctional staff to those
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: in that crowd. Now the others, you know, the inmate
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: families and those I certainly understand their perspective. They're a
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: victim as well in some aspects when they're their loved
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: ones go to go to prison, But it's a I
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: always want to represent the correctional staff as well and
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: remind people what they deal with. They they don't so
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: many people don't understand the population and the complexity and
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: the and the violence and the problems that happened down
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: in those settings. We have a volunteer population who are
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: amazing and educators. They see those individuals at the best
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: of times in the chapel and education buildings, not at
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: two am in a housing unit, when they're in congregate settings,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: and they're even in some cases more violent because they're
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: compressed together with other other men, and so they don't
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: get to see that aspect and that that part of
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: this and understand why correctional staffs can sometimes be a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: little jaded in dealing with the population. So trying and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: trying to, I guess, bring all that in for landing
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: and make sure that everybody understands the holistic way we
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: should view the profession with respect to to all those
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: attitude dudes and opinions about our system.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And it's a NonStop triage system that's underway. And perhaps
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: that's a term that might not apply, but the way
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that I apply it in this setting is when an
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: inmate comes in, you've got to kind of ascertain, Okay,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: what am I dealing with here? Your staff has to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: figure out does this person what kind of attitude do
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: they bring it into the facility. But yet that can
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: change in six months, it can change in a year,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: it can change in five years. So there's this constant
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: need to reevaluate everybody that's in the population inside the
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: walls of a correction facility because some of them, quite frankly,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: they kind of have an epiphany and they realize, yeah,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: this wasn't working. I got to do things differently that.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: What you're describing is what I'm probably most proud of.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: One of the things I'm most proud of about our
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: system that I think we've done wrong for decades, and
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: I think most systems don't get this right. We've just
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: viewed a prison as a prison, and we've had not
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: only different custody levels in these prisons from the highest
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: to the lowest, but different behavior patterns in these prisons
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: all mixed together. So you take the guys that really
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: want to improve and work on self betterment, and they're
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: mixed in with people who absolutely do not. So in
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: recent years, we've done a much better job of categorizing
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: these individuals into the ones that want to be around
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: like minded folks that want to concentrate on education, religious programming,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: whatever it may be, and isolating those that would cause
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: problems or distract or assoult others. That's trying to do better.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Now that comes with some complexities and some danger levels
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: that you have to mitigate by good population management strategies,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: but just that categorization has helped us so much in
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: getting like minded individuals together that can really concentrate on
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: self betterment.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Florida has found its way to becoming a bit of
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: an example setting state when it comes to corrections. What
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: has happened and why is that?
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Well, we set out early on several years ago to really,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: with a great deal of intent, try to become a
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: national leader in corrections. I've been going to national conferences
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: for over ten years.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Can I ask you to define what you think that
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: means to say a leader? What does that mean in
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: that field?
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Everything from innovation to best practices, to the things that
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: the metrics that would identify a systems doing well to
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: stand out in those areas. And we knew that relationships
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: were important, and we focus certainly on relationships here in
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: the state Shares's associations to our cent and House members,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: and I think we've done a better, much better job
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: in state and that's benefited us tremendously. But nationally and
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: as well, we have really started engaging with other states
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: to see where we don't need to reinvent the wheel,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: and we've picked up some really good practices from other
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: states as well. But we've engaged ourselves with the American
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Coreational Association, the Correctional Leaders Association, which is my counterparts
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: from around the country and When I would go to
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: those conferences ten years ago, people would literally pat us
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: on the back and say, so sorry for the troubles
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: you're having. In Florida, we had a bad reputation, not
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: of our owndoing. I think it was just the resource
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: deprived to such an extent that it was reflecting not
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: just in our state, but people recognized it. It's exactly
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: the opposite. Now we have people coming from all over
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: the country to Florida and certain parts of the world
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: to look at how we do business, which is very
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: flattering to our many women that do this and our leaders.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: And we've been able to share a lot of best
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: practices around the country at these conferences and again with
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: so much interest that people are coming to kind of
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: see the way we do business, innovation, rolling out new
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: ways to do business. I'm really excited about where this
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: profession's going over I say five to ten years and
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: maybe two to three with this, how rapidly artificial intelligence
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: and things like that is going to impact our agency.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: We have to proceed with caution with with that those
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: technologies comes risks, but we're in the risk reward business
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: and we have to really evaluate what benefit we get
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: versus potential risk in the system. And I think we're
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: already employee utilizing some technology that I think is going
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: to change the game. And corrections.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Corrections obviously is the underscored word here. It's not just
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: about incarcerating dangerous people. It's about helping those that are
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: going to be returned to society be corrected and to
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: have a path towards success. In preference, sorry, in ahead
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: of our next segment, what would be the one thing
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: that you think is singlely the most important thing that
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: you're working towards to change that outcome.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Well, we talk often about the programs excuse me, and
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: the education and all that, and it's important, but before you,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: before you carry out those functions, you have to identify
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: risk and needs. You have to evaluate the individual to
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: see where the best use of your resources are. And
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: so that when I speak of innovation, that's one area
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: we're improving. We take in twenty seven thousand inmates a year,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: twenty five to twenty seven thousand in our system. That's
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: a lot of deep and we have to evaluate every
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: one of them, and we have a human being sitting
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: in front of them, each one of those at our
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: reception centers interviewing them and we've just applied some technology
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: they'll do that through AI and we've we're finding we
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: believe that the individual will maybe even speak to the
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence system better and more honestly than an individual. Now,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: our human assets are tremendous and will never they'll never
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: be out of.
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  Speaker 1: We Well, they have to evaluate that, have to evaluate that.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: But you could argue, well, we should have a human
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: being doing that. But twenty seven thousand, I go back
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: to the numbers. How is the quality control in that
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: when the monotony of doing that day after day with
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: so we think we're going to get better results. We're
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: waiting into it, but excited about opportunities such as that.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: You know in listening to the program, especially you know
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: business owners out there. As the secretary said, there are
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: a lot of men and women coming out of the
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: correction system in the state, and they are many of
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: them really wanting to be employed and wanting to have
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: a chance at developing skills and a career. But you're
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: working before they come out, trying to help them talk
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: through some of the shifts that you have have tried
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: to lead the state in inside of corrections Before someone
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: gets out to better prepare them.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Sure, just again, just to recap the numbers, eighty five
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: percent will be out and about twenty seven thousand a year.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I said, come in, but they also that many go
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: back out into the community. So if I were an employer,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: I would be consider that. It's it's a large number
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: and potential potential employees. More and more employers are recognizing that,
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: and we are trying to take advantage of that of
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: that as well to not only help the individual be successful,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: but again all that contributes to them not coming back
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: to prison, which lowers victimization. Two key ingredients our housing
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: and have a house. You need a job, and you
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: need it very fast, not a month later, two months later.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: You need you need to be ready when you come
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: out and have a plan. So we're working with a
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: great deal of intent to make sure that we help
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: those individuals have a plan and work with the employers.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: One we're proud of the thanks to the governor and
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: he's been amazing in so many ways, and the legislature
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: and one of the things they've done is recognized that
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: we needed to reduce and mate idleness. So we've received
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: over three hundred positions which is not easy to do
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: in state government to add positions, but there's a there's
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: a risk. Returnal investment is tremendous. So we have over
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: three hundred new educators career in technical ged prep those
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: kind of positions across the state. That's making a remarkable difference.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Because it's not just about the men and the women
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: coming out if they if they recommit, there's another set
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: of victims. There's another set of trials, there's another set
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: of filling the blank.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: And a lot of a lot of money associated with
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: that whole. Yeah, judicial process, so correct, but absolutely, And
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: then what we're doing too it no cost of state
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: government that we're proud of. And you're familiar with this
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: with your former position with the Florida Foundation for Correctional
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Excellence with that group, with other groups both internally, we
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: are reaching out to employers across the state and as
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: I've shared before, we're telling them not only will we
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: identify individuals that's potentially moving to your area that might
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: be a good fit for your job, but we will
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: move them to you now, near to a prison near
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: you now, and we will allow you to come in
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: and offer training where they're ready to go to work
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: day one. So this is catching on A ten or
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: fifteen years ago, it would not have sold, I don't
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: think as well because people had you know, they shot
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: away a little bit from those coming out of prisons
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: with records, but they're with the job market the way
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: it is now and the success that so many businesses
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: have had. We get stories all the time where these
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: employees that leave us turn out to be better in
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: some cases than the ones they hire from from other places.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: So many of them are so hungry for a job,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: they really want another shot. They've better a win win,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: It's absolutely and it's it's a win win.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes, you know, we talk about art copying life.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes people have this idea, and I think
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: at times it's been accurate. You see a movie that
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: involves a prison in any way, shape or form. The
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: prisoner gets out and the door slams behind him and
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: they wish them well, and that's that, and it's sort
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of symbolized I think a long standing traditional idea the
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: prison system, the correction system stops right there. You have
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: recognized and you've talked about and I've heard you talk
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: about it with your stay that it can't stop there.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: It has to go beyond the walls of the institutions.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: It does have to be prepared in in advance. I
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: need after care. And speaking of after care, one thing
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: we're very proud of is we have just redesigned our
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: re entry center concept. We only have a handful of
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: re entry centers in the state, and mathematically that is
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: just not a winning solution. We have to treat every
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: prison as a re entry center, because they are. We
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: release inmates every week from every single facility in Florida,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: but we really haven't been designed or set up for
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: that to be successful. We have these few release centers
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: release centers that hold about two thousand individuals, so we're
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: not even coming close to really being effective with those
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: that are getting out. So what we've done is we
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: have or working toward proportionately providing enough beds in each
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: geographic area to get individuals back closer to home than
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: eighteen twelve to eighteen months of release. We don't like
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: individuals living at home their entire sentence. There's bad things
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: that happen when when that happens, but there's a there's
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: a significant reward to getting them back near release and
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: one of the primary advantages is working with our volunteer
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: community that come in and mentor those individuals. So, now
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: what we've done instead of a mom and pop or
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: some you know, church group or civic organization come in,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: coming in and mentoring an individual that's going to get
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: out five hours away right there, they're establishing relationships with
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: individuals that's getting out in their town where they're going
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: to be so they can help with reintegration into church
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: and the civic organizations, into housing and the jobs. So
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: just a lot smarter way to effectively utilize the amazing
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: volunteers that we have throughout our system.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: We've talked about some of the innovations, some of the
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: things that you've managed to move the state in the
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: direction of what are some things left to do? What's
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: on the to do list? If you've got the sticky note,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: what's tops on that list?
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: We we've got to continue to deal. You know, the
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: population is going to grow that that's no doubt of that.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: As a population in Florida grows, our population in the
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: prison system will will grow as well. We're up about
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: nine thousand inmates.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: And that's just hard math, right, That's just hard.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: That's just hard math. And that's consistent with every state
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: in the nation, and it's and it's in Florida. It's
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: you know that there's been a massive growth in population
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: and we see that in our in our system as well.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Some of that growth has been post COVID. You know,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: we took a we had a downturn after COVID. The
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: population is rebounding, also rebounding with a with a tougher individual.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: It appears that the courts are tree adding the lower
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: custody level inmates we used to get and so we
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: are getting more violent inmate and the longer term in
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: made we're dealing with healthcare issues like never before, the
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: aging population that we're dealing with, the mental health issues.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: So all of that is to be considered in years
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: and decades to come, and we're already looking out at
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: how we how we best manage that. We're going to
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: have to find more effective, more innovative, and smarter ways
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: to manage the populations. We don't overburdened state government, but
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: there's going to have to be resources address such as
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: physical plant you know, additions to accommodate that, whether that's
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: you know, new prisons in the future, or or we
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: do have quite a few facilities now in locations that
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: we've had difficulty staffing. Thanks to the governor and the
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: pay increases, we are rebounding. That's that's the reason we're
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: recovering in those areas. So that's helping.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the population and its growth. I'm curious is
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: there a nationwide there appears to be less attention on
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: mental health and the need for what we're traditionally mental
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: health hospitals where someone could be incarcerated but be treated
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: for their mental health issues. We know that the homeless
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: population and a majority of them suffer mental health issues
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and eventually a lot of them end up in the system.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Are we needing more mental health hospitals or are mental
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: health hospitals in the future just going to be part
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: of an institution of prison.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: I think they are now in large part. We're kind
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: of the mental health institutions of thirty forty years ago.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Is that best practice?
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure I can speak to that. I think
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: that could. Many of them could be served in a setting,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: you know, external to us. But the ones we get
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: have been convicted of a crime, so it's appropriate that
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: they are where they are, and we have a very
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: robust and an effective mental health program. I'm very, very
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: proud of our team and the way they manage that
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: difficult population. A lot of that happens down in Lake
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: County at our facility, and they do very well managing those.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: But along those lines, one thing we've got to address
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: is hospitalization and individuals going out to hospitals. It's extremely
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: it's very expensive, not just from a medical cost standpoint,
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: it's one of the most risky things we do, taking
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: and convict felling out to a hospital. The way we
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: have done that for years is they're all they're in
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: traditional hospitals up and down the state, next to mom
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: and pop. Not ideal, and for every individual we send out,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: we send two officers with that individual, So it's very costly.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: We're about ninety three percent in overtime costs associated with
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: outside medical so very proud of this. We are working
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: to put some medical modular units behind the fence and
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: starting to do more and more services behind our fence,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: bringing doctors in instead of taking the individuals outside. Okay,
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: so we're going to have some twenty and forty man
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: infirmaries and hospital locations in behind our fence that we
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: can supervise with two security officers as opposed to eighty
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: if that's forty in a hospital. So again smarta ways
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: to do business. A little bit of upfront costs, but
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: the return on investment is significant.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Final segment were talking about how time just flies, and
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: I was sharing with the secretary this topic is just
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: too important.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: It just is.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: It impacts every single person listening. And if you don't
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: live in the Sunshine State, trust me, it impacts you
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: wherever you live, because this is an issue in every state.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: It's just a matter of how the issue is being tackled,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and the issue is returning inmates to the population in
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: a successful manner where we reduce the likelihood of recidivism.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: I know that.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: You've talked a little bit this morning about the staff
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: and you know Yeoman's work. I mean, this is hard
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: to put your arms around corrections in any state, let
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: alone as divers as state, as large as state as
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Florida is. But those people are very important at seeing success.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: They are could not be prouder of the staff in
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: this state that works in the Department of Corrections and
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: the culture of our state. We in the past have
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: been a sized about our culture, but I say a lot.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: I'm proud of our culture. Our culture keeps people safe,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: and they have the staff have bought into the mission
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: so well. I can't say that was always the case
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: decades ago, but I can't say that every the one
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: percent of the individuals that work for us have bought in,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: but the vast majority get it and they understand why
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: we do what we do. I give a tremendous amount
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: of credit to Hope Gartman. She is our assistant Deputy
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Secretary over institutions and her job is primarily focused on security,
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: and I used to be in that job and I
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: probably too much focused on that without enough focus on
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: the re entry aspect. But the way she leads that
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: team and make sure that we do the things we
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: have to do as it relates to security, but constantly
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: reminds them of our obligation to focus on the re
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: entry and reducing idleness. Amy Frazel is a head of
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: our programs in re entry, and the relationship the two
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: of them have to respect each other's mission and make
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: sure that it marries up that it's complementary of our
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: entire goal is phenomenal. Again, couldn't be more proud of
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: the staff at the line level, but the leadership I
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: don't talk about enough either. I've got Richard coming for
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: thirty nine year veteran with the Department of Corrections as
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Deputy Secretary and just has such a heart and a
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: maturity about him and a wisdom that makes my job easy.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Our chief of staff is Tim Fitzgerald, he's a retired
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: sergeant major in the military. And Joe Winkler, as you know,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Leed's Community Correction So never seen this kind of team
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: at the department. I've worked with a lot of teams
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: over a lot of years, but just such a dedicated
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: team that doesn't concentrate solely on their area of responsibility,
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: but has the greater mission at heart. And so feel
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: very fortunate to get to work with this people every day.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: To businesses out there, there are certain industries that seem
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: to gravitate towards giving opportunities to returning citizens as we
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: like to call them, But the reality is there are
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of business owners out there that are looking
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: for employees. I've thought it's the best job market for
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: people coming out of out of corrections that I can
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: remember in my lifetime. They're just jobs everywhere. What would
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: you say to a prospective employer.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: So I would not hesitate to give them a chance,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: so that you know, depending on what you do and
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: the liability associated with it, that the information about their
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: past is very you know, it's very relevant and very relevant.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: You can see that and evaluate the past histories. But
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: so many of them have proven successful. It's relatively very
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: few that get an education and get a job that
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: they come back. In fact, let me say this, we
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: have talking about success. We have one of the lowest
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: recidivism rates in the United States twenty one percent, where
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: like number three or two, or three or four in
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: that category. It kind of fluctuates back and forth. At
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: one time we had over a thirty percent recidivism rate,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: and that is the percentage of inmates that return to
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: prison after three years of release. That's something to be
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: proud of when you talk about leading the nation. That's
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: one of those metrics that means we're doing something right.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: The programming, the education, getting them employment, it's having an
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: impact and it's showing in the statistics.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: So a job matters. And what I'll tell you, friends
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: is if you just email me, I'll direct you to
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the right places if you're interested. In learning more of
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: how you can take part. Mister secretary. Thanks, I appreciate
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: you coming in.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: It's been a pleasure. Thank you.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Ricky Dixon with me this morning forty seven minutes past
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: the hour, the Secretary of Corrections for the Sunshine State
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: and my guest here in the Morning Show with Preston
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Scott