Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a plan aimed at upgrading Florida’s prison system.
The move also eliminated a tied-in pay raise for correctional officers. And it sparked criticism.
After announcing his vetoes, DeSantis emphasized he wanted a pay raise. In fact, his budget proposal called for lawmakers to raise minimum salaries by more than the $2-per-hour increase they ultimately went with.
“You can make more at Wawa. Why would you want to be in a correction facility when you could be there getting free subs and stuff, right?” he said at a Monday budget signing event.
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But DeSantis has vetoed prison projects before, and he didn't like lawmakers' decision to link the raises to one.
"To me that was like a D.C. swamp game,” he said. “They tried to hold hostage the corrections pay in order to generate more debt on behalf of the state of Florida, when we've made so much progress in reducing debt."
The governor frequently touts the state’s debt reduction efforts.
Governor DeSantis Signs Florida Budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 https://t.co/cGxEyn0Afv
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) June 29, 2026
The bipartisan plan, HB 5403E, would've required the state to put $50 million a year toward prison projects for the next four decades. And it ordered the planning and design of a 600-bed prison hospital. It also would've authorized the state to issue bonds for new construction.
Multiple other prison infrastructure appropriations were also wiped out. Yet, House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa said such investments are needed to improve aging prisons and keep people safe.
"Who loses out?” she said at a press conference. “Well, it's our corrections officers, it's our entire corrections system, frankly, that needs those resources to modernize, to improve, and to keep both the officers and the folks who are housed in those facilities safe."
ALSO READ: DeSantis signs Florida's $117.6 billion budget. What did he veto?
James Baiardi, president of the State Corrections chapter of the Florida Police Benevolent Association, said he's disappointed in the political process.
“I'm disappointed in the fact that something as important and well deserved as the correction officers' pay became part of a political game,” he said. "They made correction officers pawns.”
He said he worries even more workers will leave because of the situation and that the National Guard may need to be sent in — again — to fill in the gaps.
"The pay is not fair,” he said. “It doesn't justify for the type of work these officers do, and until they fix the pay, they're not going to have a stable staffing system.”
Meanwhile, Denise Rock from the Florida Cares Charity believes some are looking at it all wrong. She said Florida should focus less on building prisons and more on reducing the prison population.
"We need to release the sick and elderly and low-risk,” she said, pointing to research older people are far less likely to reoffend. “You would be floored if you walked into a prison and saw the amount of men with walkers, wheelchairs, canes."
She said fewer staff members would be needed if this happened.
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Corrections didn’t respond to a media request.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
