Mina, Demings say they want halfway house to stay open

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings and Orlando police Chief John Mina urged the Florida Department of Corrections on Tuesday to rethink the potential closing of an Orlando halfway house.

Their statements come a day after a press event at the Bridges of America facility on Mercy Drive with elected officials, program alums and company leaders spreading the same message.

Demings said the facility, which houses low-level criminal offenders and gives them tools such as anger-management classes, substance-abuse treatment and vocational training to ease them back into society, has been effective.

He said inmates who entered programs such as Bridges had a lower recidivism rate, which in turn decreases crime.

“The therapeutic community based model is a nationally recognized program whose results are proven by delivery of evidence-based practices,” he said in a statement released through Bridges.

Mina said he agreed with Demings.

“I support community-based solutions for substance abuse treatment and, when possible, deinstitutionalizing individuals who can benefit from those programs,” he said in a statement.

The FDOC’s new program, Spectrum, will offer many of the same services that Bridges provides, but inside the state’s prisons. The in-prison treatment has higher completion rates and is cheaper, the FDOC said.

Bridges is suing FDOC to stop the closing, which is scheduled for Dec. 31.