Chief Justice Fred Lewis and Gov. Charlie Crist are both scheduled to attend a summit Wednesday where they'll release an exhaustive, 200-page report on problems Florida’s social services and court systems face dealing with the mentally ill.
One example, the court says, is that mentally ill are incarcerated so often in Florida that jails have become the top mental health care providers in many communities.
"I think we all recognize that Florida now is stuck in a vicious cycle of inappropriate behavior leading to inappropriate incarceration, again and again," Judge Lewis sad in a statement released Monday.
But Florida appears headed into a bad season for new spending requests.
If Crist wanted to, he could force this issue. He isn't doing it. Is he going to do it later? Probably not. Why not?
