Michigan Shutting Prisons, Letting Some Out Early

Friday, June 5, 2009 1:40 PM

Three state prisons and all five of Michigan's minimum-security prison camps will be closed this year to save money as the number of inmates keeps dropping, Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration said Friday.

The sweeping announcement affects facilities across the state.

Prisons in Muskegon, Standish north of Bay City and Kincheloe in the eastern Upper Peninsula will close between Aug. 1 and Nov. 30.

Prison camps to be shuttered in the same time period are located in Shingleton, Painesdale and Iron River in the U.P.; Grayling in the northern Lower Peninsula; and White Lake in Oakland County.

More than 1,000 corrections employees will be affected. Department of Corrections officials said they will try to move as many employees as possible into vacant positions at other facilities. But layoffs are likely.

The eight facilities cost $118 million to run and house about 4,600 inmates who will be moved to other facilities if they are still incarcerated at the time of the closures. The state is facing a $1.4 billion general fund deficit in the next budget.

"Our top priority is public safety, and that is at the core of every decision we make in operating our state correctional facilities," Corrections Director Patricia Caruso said in a statement. "But just as we are committed to the public's safety, we are also committed to spending their tax dollars wisely and in ways that make sense. The reorganization we are unveiling today makes sense from a public safety and budget perspective."

The announcement was criticized by Mel Grieshaber, executive director of the Michigan Corrections Organization, a union representing corrections officers.

"Thousands of prisoners are being let out. ... I think the public better lock their doors," he said.

Grieshaber said prison closures in recent years led to few layoffs because workers filled vacancies at other facilities. But there will be fewer openings to apply for this time, he said.

"There are undoubtedly going to layoffs -- hundreds perhaps," Grieshaber said.

The prison population peaked at a record of 51,454 in December 2006.

But since then the population has fallen to under 48,000 through more paroles and commutations, a drop in felony convictions and prison intakes, and an expanded program to keep parolees from committing new crimes. The number of criminals entering prisons dropped 9 percent in 2008, according to the state.

Granholm wants to reduce the head count to under 45,000 by Oct. 1, the start of the next budget year. The last time the prison population was below that threshold was 1999. Granholm recently expanded the parole board so it can focus on releasing more inmates who have served their minimum sentence.

http://moneynews.newsmax.com/economy/mi ... 22023.html