Florida is facing a “tsunami of inmates” who may be released from local and county jails due to a critical staff shortage, according to state Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican. As a result of inaction by state leadership, Brandes said, the state may have to release some prisoners because facilities are overcrowded and there are not enough corrections officers. He said Florida’s prisons could house 60,000 inmates appropriately, and manage them adequately, but there are more than 80,000 incarcerated. The total does not include defendants behind bars while their cases are heard. “I say overcrowded, but it is not because we do not have enough bed space—it is because of the lack of staff,” he said, adding that the system currently has one guard for every 250 inmates. The state senator blamed the state’s legislators on both sides of the aisle for the problem, “The state legislature failed to put …