This month, Florida's prison population exceeded 100,000 for the first time.AC = -->
Only California and Texas have more inmates. And Florida Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil says the Department of Corrections may have to putup tents to house all the inmates. McNeil saidat the current growth trend, Florida will need 19 new prisons in the next five years. That will require the DOC budget to nearly double, to about $4 billion.
But that's not what McNeil is recommending. Instead, he wants lawmakers to re-evaluate tough mandatory-sentencing laws and concentrate on reducing high recidivism rate so inmates are less likely to return to prison once released.
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