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Intersection: Budget Cuts Threaten Prison Transition Programs

Melissa Lucas. Photo: Matthew Peddie, WMFE
Melissa Lucas. Photo: Matthew Peddie, WMFE

The Florida Department of Corrections is facing a $50 million budget gap in its healthcare budget. To make up for that gap, the department is making cuts to programs that tackle substance abuse, mental health treatment and re-entry into life after prison.

Those cuts are being felt across the state, including at the Transition House in Kissimmee.

Melissa Lucas, director of HR with Transition House, joins Intersection along with Sara Wakefield, associate professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University, for a closer look at what the Transition House and other programs like it do to help inmates getting ready for release from prison.