A staple of MSNBC’s weekend program, the docu-series “Lockup” is facing a bit of a challenge in Florida. Florida Department of Corrections secretary Ed Buss approved a contract to let the production company behind the series film in a prison, but Governor Rick Scott says that Buss did not have the authority to approve filming.
Buss worked with the production company when he oversaw Indiana’s prison system. For now, it isn’t clear whether Scott’s office will approve of filming, or whether the crew will have to go to another state to get tape.
Sources within Buss’s office said the warden sent the film crew home Wednesday after hearing from Scott’s office.
Buss failed to vet the contract with Scott’s executive staff before signing it, Burgess said.
“The feeling is that it was outside the scope of the Department of Corrections purview to engage the state in an entertainment-related contract,” Burgess said. “Right now the Lockup contract is locked up and I don’t’ know if it’s going to be unlocked. It’s not going forward at this point.”
(H/T J$P)