By Mitch Perry, The Florida Phoenix
Florida Lieutenant Gov. Jay Collins — now a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor — traveled to the Panhandle Monday to promote Gov. Ron DeSantis’ budget request to raise starting pay for correctional officers and staff.
“Like many states around the country, Florida has faced serious staffing challenges in recent years, but what makes us different is, when we have these challenges, when they arise, we step up and solve a problem and we lead,” Collins said during a press conference at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in Milton.
Overall, the governor and the Florida Department of Corrections are requesting $374 million to raise base pay for corrections officers, probation officers, inspectors, and non-uniformed staff from $22 an hour to $28 an hour.
DeSantis’ proposal also includes $25 million for the sixth year of his Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program, which provides signing bonuses of up to $5,000 for those hired as first-time law enforcement officers in Florida. And it includes nearly $56.7 million to add 500 full-time security positions statewide. “We cannot allow trained officers to leave for different agencies simply because of pay,” he said.
Collins’ appearance at the Panhandle prison came two months after a nearly two-year investigation into another Panhandle state prison — Gulf Correctional Institution near Wewahitchka — by the Southern Poverty Law Center concluded that overcrowding and understaffing have resulted in a high concentration of complaints by inmates about excessive force and staff misconduct.
“They have threats that they may not even know, coming every single day,” Collins said of Florida’s corrections officers. “We as a state have to make sure that we support them, we fund them, we prepare them, but, more importantly, I want them to know that we have their back.”
Collins’ visit to Santa Rosa Correctional came four weeks after he announced his candidacy for governor, and two days after he formally kicked off his campaign during an event in Hillsborough County. Polls show him far behind Southwest Florida U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds in the race.
The trip to Santa Rosa County did have some explicit political benefits for the LG, as Collins later announced that his campaign had received the backing of Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson.