{"id":111406,"date":"2026-01-09T05:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/111406\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T05:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:02:08","slug":"tampa-rep-susan-valdes-sponsors-bill-to-create-corrections-accountabilty-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/111406\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Rep. Susan Vald\u00e9s sponsors bill to create Corrections accountabilty position"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Florida Rep. Susan Vald\u00e9s, D-Tampa. Credit: Photo via State of Florida<\/p>\n

Saying existing law does not provide adequate and independent oversight of the Florida\u2019s Department of Corrections (FDC), two Florida GOP lawmakers have proposed an Office of Corrections Ombudsman to ensure accountability, monitor conditions of confinement, and investigate complaints.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The measure (SB 1160<\/a>) is sponsored in the Senate by Ana Maria Rodriguez, who represents Monroe and a part of Miami-Dade County, and in the House (HB 889<\/a>) by Susan Vald\u00e9s, R-Tampa. The idea has been pushed for several years by criminal justice reform advocates. The bill says the legislation is necessary \u201cto create an independent entity as a unit of the legislative branch of state government in order to restore public trust in the department.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bills come a month after\u00a0an investigation<\/a>\u00a0into a Panhandle state prison by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that overcrowding and overstaffing resulted in a high concentration of complaints by inmates about excessive force and staff misconduct.<\/p>\n

And they come more than five years after the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in the Middle District of Florida issued\u00a0a report<\/a>\u00a0regarding Florida\u2019s Lowell Correctional Institution, the state\u2019s largest and oldest women\u2019s prison. The report found reasonable cause to believe that Lowell failed to protect prisoners from sexual abuse by staff.<\/p>\n

Nine states have created corrections ombudsman positions since 2018, while another two have created quasi-oversight bodies, according to Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas, which runs the\u00a0National Resource Center for Correctional Oversight.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s greater recognition of deaths in custody, of the violence going on inside, of poor conditions,\u201d Deitch said.<\/p>\n

Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Tampa\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t The idea has been pushed for several years by criminal justice reform advocates. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Massive\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe bill would impose a third-degree felony charge for an employer who knowingly hires more than 50 undocumented workers. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"New\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tMove over, Postmodern Jukebox.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

This article appears in Jan. 08 \u2013 14, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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