Florida planning additional prison privatization

Florida is planning to privatize 20 work release centers around the state.

A Department of Corrections spokeswoman said Tuesday the 327 correctional officers at those facilities will be offered other prison jobs.

A Tallahassee judge, meanwhile, was set to hear additional legal argument on the privatization of health care services in Florida's state prisons.

Unions and two nurses are challenging a budget provision that lets the department outsource inmate health care.

Another Tallahassee judge in a similar case ruled lawmakers violated the state constitution by using the budget to privatize the operation of prisons in South Florida instead of passing a stand-alone law.

A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal is set to hear oral argument in the state's appeal of that ruling on Wednesday in Tallahassee.