It might be extra correct to explain Jeff Brandes as a Republican from Florida than a Florida Republican. The previous legislator—who left the state Senate in 2022 after time period limits precluded one other run—is a heterodox conservative who breaks with normal positions on such points as felony justice reform. Since returning to the non-public sector, Brandes has led the Florida Coverage Mission, a corporation he based to be a “policy bank” of analysis.
In October, Cause‘s Billy Binion spoke with Brandes by telephone.
Q: One in every of your main subject areas is felony justice reform, which is not usually a hill Republicans die on. How’d you get there?
A: I sat on the felony justice committee again in 2014 and acknowledged fairly rapidly that there was no actual management on that subject statewide and that the jail system in Florida was circling the drain. I started to tour prisons, and the extra I toured, the much less I favored. I used to be usually going to prisons that had 1,500 inmates and 0 schooling alternatives, realizing {that a} overwhelming majority of our prisons have been understaffed. We had actually created a Division of Warehousing and never a Division of Corrections. We weren’t correcting habits. We weren’t getting higher outcomes. So I began to work to repair that.
Q: How would you deal with these issues?
A: What if we have been a state that applied finest practices? I believe that is usually one thing Republicans and Democrats universally can agree on. It should not be up for debate that we will observe the perfect apply. That is what led to me creating the Florida Coverage Mission.
The main target of our three early reviews was the lowest-hanging fruit in felony justice: First, what can we do with the returning residents? They’re getting out of jail anyway. We’re not having a dialog about their sentencing. We’re simply speaking about tips on how to make them extra profitable after they go away. There’s additionally an enormous, rising aged inhabitants. It is extremely costly—about two or 3 times as costly as a younger inmate—due to their well being wants. So let’s give attention to a dialog about how we could possibly be extra profitable with our aged inhabitants. And eventually veterans. We are able to argue about serving to veterans resolve their issues.
Q: Do you assume there are any frequent misconceptions in regards to the felony justice system that hinder this work? What are the primary roadblocks?
A: I believe the primary roadblock is most of your legislators, judges, and prosecutors have by no means visited a jail, interval. They don’t have any idea of what they’re really sentencing folks to or the place they’re placing folks. Most individuals consider that there are companies inside prisons to assist folks, and that merely is not true. Most individuals do not perceive what the day-to-day life is for inmates. Most individuals do not perceive why having adequate numbers of corrections officers is necessary and that in case you employees it with a skeleton crew, the inmates find yourself operating the place. And the best way the inmates will run the place is by coercion and violence.
Q: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made a reputation for himself partly by being powerful on crime, characterizing the FIRST STEP Act—the 2018 federal bipartisan reform laws—as a jailbreak regulation. How would you reply to that?
A: I believe it is political. It isn’t data-informed. I do not assume anybody can take a look at the information of the FIRST STEP Act and say that that has created any sort of rise in crime or was a jail break. The info really factors within the absolute other way.
Q: Florida is typically touted as the brand new mannequin for Republicans. What do you consider the state of the social gathering, and the way did you navigate it whereas in workplace?
A: Let’s not speak in regards to the state of the Republican Celebration. Let’s speak in regards to the state of the Legislature, which is overwhelmingly Republican. What subject is the Legislature in Florida main on? Something? Clearly, we aren’t main on property insurance coverage. Clearly, we’re not main on transportation. Clearly, we’re not main on reasonably priced housing. Clearly, we’re not main on felony justice coverage. And since DeSantis has grow to be such a polarizing and robust determine, the Legislature has largely leaned on him to supply all of the options. It has largely ceded its position. There aren’t intense coverage debates on tips on how to resolve these powerful issues. I’ve no downside with us touting how Republicans can win elections. The query is: after which what?
This interview has been condensed and edited for type and readability.