By Dan Christensen
FloridaBulldog.org
The collapse of local news came to North Broward and South Palm Beach last week with the shuttering of the Observer, a weekly newspaper based in Deerfield Beach since 1962.
By Noreen Marcus
FloridaBulldog.org
Sometimes footnotes hold treasures. Or they may contain dynamite, like the one in a ruling the Florida Supreme Court released Thursday.
The men in purple T-shirts, who had come through the Corrections Transition Program, were at the Florida Commission on Offender Review meeting to support a fellow parolee, Donald Freeman. Photo: Deirdra Funcheon
BRADENTON, Fla. —While most Florida Commission on Offender Review
decisions are made during hearings without the inmate present, parolees whose
supervision terms are being reviewed sometimes do show up in person.
Five of the 33 cases being considered during a
hearing on Oct. 9 related to inmates who were already out on parole. Parole in Florida is considered an act of grace by the state,
not a right. According to state rules, parolees are not allowed to
possess firearms or ammunition, use drugs or alcohol, or even “enter any
business establishment whose primary purpose is the sale/consumption of
alcoholic beverages.”
Inmate Cheryl Weimar was left a quadriplegic for life, allegedly after being beaten by prison guards. She is at Florida Women’s Reception Center in Ocala on Nov. 21, 2019. Photo: Public Access to Court Electronic Records
Part 2 of 3
By Deirdra Funcheon, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
BRADENTON, Fla. —Criminal justice reformers say that letting very sick inmates out of prison early would be a sensible way to relieve pressure on Florida’s overburdened corrections system, and on taxpayers, who will pony up nearly half a billion dollars in 2020 for prisoners’ health care.