Court rejects Florida prison privatization appeal

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - An appellate court has rejected Attorney General Pam Bondi's appeal of ruling against the Legislature's plan to privatize nearly 30 prison facilities in South Florida.

A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday that Bondi couldn't appeal on her own after the Department of Corrections declined to do so.

Leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature had urged her to appeal.

One of Bondi's assistants acknowledged during oral argument last month that it was too late to carry out the privatization due to the expiration of a budget provision authorizing the plan.

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Glogau, though, asked for a ruling to set a precedent for future budgets. A circuit judge ruled the privatization should have been in a stand-alone law instead of the budget.