Brevard Correctional Among Prisons to Be Closed.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
By: Tom Parkinson

March 16, 2011 | WMFE - In an effort to cut costs, the Florida Department of Corrections will close 6 of the state's prisons. DOC officials say the move will save the state at least $30 million dollars this year. The Brevard Correctional Institution in Cocoa is one of the facilities targeted for closure.

Brevard Correctional houses both medium and minimum security prisoners with a capacity of more than a thousand inmates.
About 240 corrections workers will be laid off at the Brevard facility. 

Corrections officials say the workers will be offered jobs at other institutions and, they say, the closings will not result in the early release of any inmates.

Prisons in Hillsborough, Hendry, Leon and Sumter Counties are also slated for closure.
Officials say the state now has a surplus of beds that allows inmates to be transferred within the prison system.

All of the shutdowns are to expected be completed by July 1st.