Prisons Spend $90K To Upgrade TVs

The Florida Department of Corrections is spending more than $90,000 in tax money to make sure inmates can watch TV once transmissions become all digital in February.

On February 17th, if your television isn't ready for the digital conversion, you'll see nothing but static. But that won't be the case inside any of Florida's 137 DOC facilities.

SPECIAL SECTION:Get Ready For DTV

"This isn't about the inmates," said DOC spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. "Inmates who are idle are just more dangerous."

Corrections officials call it a necessary inmate management tool. Inmates are rewarded with TV time for good behavior and if the sets aren't ready for the conversion, they will go black, leaving little to offer to keep inmates under control, according to officials.

"It's better off being in prison than out," said taxpayer Bernadine Hubsechman. "The stuff these people get."

Corrections Department officials also defend the program by saying they are only spending roughly $1 per inmate for converter boxes. But those converter boxes are now hard to come by. The federal government was offering discount coupons that dropped the price of a box from $60 to $20 per box. But recently, the government announced there are no more coupons and everyone will have to pay full price.

Other facilities such as the Orange County jail are facing the same situation. But the jail isn't using tax dollars to fund the switch. The $9,500 the Orange County jail will spend comes from inmate dollars spent at the commissary.

The DOC's purchases come following the firing of 66 probation officers last week as part of a money-saving measure.