Legal Research

Michigan Prison Closing Plan Due: Legislator Wants 18% Corrections Cut

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime and Justice News, December 10, 2008.

"Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm will propose $140 million in state budget cuts today, including the closure of a state prison and a prison camp, says the Detroit Free Press. Closing the prisons would save $21 million. The closings are made possible, in part, by an unexpected decline in the number of inmates in the state to fewer than 49,000, the lowest level since 2000."

"Rep. George Cushingberry, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the plan needed deeper cuts to prisons. He said he wants to close several older prisons to reduce the corrections budget by 18 percent. He said the state houses many inmates who pose little risk, such as those serving time for marijuana possession. He said he will push for spending more on programs to help paroled inmates re-enter communities, and for more parole officers to monitor them."

Detroit Free Press

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on December 10, 2008 (boomark / email).