Riverview All-Women's Prison Targeted for Closure

Hillsborough Correctional Institution, an all-women's prison in Riverview, is one of seven prisons slated to be shut down by the Florida Department of Corrections, the Miami Herald reported Thursday.

Hillsborough Correctional, Florida's only faith-based prison for women, and the six other facilities were targeted for closure by July 1 as Gov. Rick Scott looks to save $64 million in operating costs. The prison made last year's "hit list," reporter Steve Bousquet wrote in the Herald's Naked Politics blog, but residents of nearby Sun City Center, a retirement center, successfully lobbied to keep the prison open.

Several area churches provide services for the Riverview prison, which has won over "many devoted followers," according to the Herald. Minnette Webster, a Bloomingdale artist, runs an art program there.

"This is one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do," prisons chief Kenneth Tucker told the Herald on Thursday in an exclusive interview at his office. "But the reality of it is, there was no way to avoid this."

Tucker said the Department of Corrections will offer jobs to displaced workers at nearby prisons or other state agencies wherever possible.