The National Institute on Money in State Politics took a look at the numbers. Prison firms and companies focused on prison health care gave nearly $1 million to Florida politicians in 2010 — the most the industry has given over the last decade.
More than four-fifths of that came from the Boca Raton-based GEO Group and its health care subsidiary GEO Care. Corrections Corporation of America also gave six-figure sums.
The full report is here.
Most of the money went to the state’s political parties (which don’t have the same limits on contributions as individual candidates), with the lion’s share going to the Republican Party of Florida.
As we’ve previously reported, GEO gave some big chunks of cash to the Republican Party this year, as budget bill language surfaced to privatize prisons across the southern part of the state as part of an effort to wring savings out of the state’s corrections budget. The plan approved by the Legislature would also turn prison health care statewide over to private companies.
