AND NOW THERE ARE THREE.  The Parole Commission has removed the ‘vacant’ sign from the seat of that third empty chair and gave a warm welcome to their newest member, Bernard Cohen, a former corrections executive.

The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The newest member of the state parole commission is no stranger to the corrections business. Bernard Cohen of Tallahassee was introduced Wednesday to Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet as the newest member of the three-member parole panel. Although Cohen most recently served as vice president of corporate administration for the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, he previously spent 30 years the Florida Department of Corrections in a variety of executive and management positions. He also reached the rank of Captain in the Army Reserve. A Constitutional Amendment in 1940 authorized the creation of a parole commission in Florida for the supervised release of worthy prisoners. The state was already growing rapidly at the beginning of World War II, although its population then was about one-tenth of today’s nearly 19 million residents.