A Florida judge has ruled that state lawmakers need to give their full approval via the normal legislative process to the privatization of prison health care in several parts of the state. The ruling puts on ice a five-year, $229 million contract the state had signed with Brentwood-based Corizon, the company formed last year when the former America Service Group merged with a St. Louis-based peer. Corizon and state officials say they will appeal the ruling, which said a 14-member budget commission was not entitled to change policy as it did in September by shifting funding for health care at 40 prisons.

SEE ALSO: Corizon's big Florida contract in limbo from just before Thanksgiving