Michigan
Articles
03/22/2010 – The Detroit Free Press: “Editorial: New Sentencing Limits Can Help On Fairness“
“Legislators must find compromises and common ground this year that will begin to control Michigan’s $2-billion corrections budget and bring its incarceration rates to levels closer to those of surrounding Great Lakes states.”
03/08/2010 – The Detroit News: “Gov’s Plan to Release Inmates Under Fire”, by Karen Bouffard
“Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s plan to cut the prison population through awarding “good time” credits, opening halfway houses and hiring parole officers is raising concerns among law-and-order activists of a possible crime wave.”
06/16/2009 – Lansing State Journal: “Michigan Already Chooses to Limit Safety Spending”, by Derek Melot
“To get a conversation rolling on prisons and how they fit in Michigan’s budget, I’ll grant to the Mike Coxes of the world a point: Having an ex-con on the street, as opposed to behind bars, does increase the risk of more crime. It has to, by definition.”
06/16/2009 – MIRS News Service: “Cropsey Puts Out DOC Budget Trimmed by 1 Percent”
”’The focus of this budget is going to be on fiscal responsibility,’ Cropsey said, citing a 2007 Senate Fiscal Agency report that noted that Michigan’s cost per prisoner was among the highest in the Midwest. ‘This has got to change. No more nonsense about net savings of $120 million [from facility closings] when no such savings are being realized.’”
06/05/2009 – Chicago Tribune: “Michigan Announces Closure of 8 Prison Facilities”, by David Eggert
“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.”
02/20/2009 – Detroit Free Press:”Michigan: New Study Can Be Key to State Prison Savings”, by Alan Cropsey and Alma Wheeler Smith
“In past years, members of both political parties each pointed to their own analyses of crime and corrections spending, drawing conclusions and recommending solutions that the other party often rejected as nonstarters. Thanks to an independent analysis conducted by the Council of State Governments Justice Center (and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Michigan) we have good reason to believe this year will be different.”
01/25/2009 – Battle Creek Enquirer: “Editorial: Revising Parole Rules Weigh Safety, Costs“
“Maintaining public safety is a vital function of government. But officials also are obligated to utilize taxpayer dollars as efficiently as possible.”
01/22/2009 – The Associated Press: “Granholm, Lawmakers Endorse Parole Changes”, by David Eggert
“Lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Thursday endorsed changes in parole policies that would drop Michigan’s prison population by thousands and save $262 million in corrections costs by 2015.”
01/22/2009 – The Associated Press: “Granholm, Lawmakers to Unveil Prison Spending Cuts”, by David Eggert
“Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers may be closer to agreeing on ways to cut spending on state prisons.”
01/09/2009 – Crain’s Detroit Business: “Editorial: Business Should Get Behind Prison Reform“
“No business group is advocating the release of dangerous offenders. But business groups should unite across the state to demand that lawmakers act to reduce prison operating costs and use some of the savings to bring tax relief for business.”
09/09/2008 – Detroit Free Press: “Editorial: Public Wants Smarter, Less Costly Criminal Justice Policies”
“For decades, politicians have believed that sounding tough on crime was their ticket to getting elected. Such beliefs, along with a few high-profile crimes, have generally driven prison policies over the last three decades and fueled an enormous expansion of Michigan’s prison system with little, if any, improvements in public safety.”
06/13/2008 – The Detroit News: “Prison Costs May Hit $2.6 B in ‘12”, by Charlie Cain and Gary Heinlein
“Prison spending is projected to increase by $46 million a year over the next four years, driving the cost to $2.6 billion in 2012, according to a report released Thursday by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.”
04/15/2008 – The Detroit News: “State Seeks Ways to Control Prison Costs”, by Gary Heinlein and Charlie Cain
“Michigan’s prison crunch will continue until at least 2010, because state policymakers have abandoned plans to revise sentencing policies and free old, sick and nonviolent convicts.”
04/15/2008 – The Detroit News: “2 Counties, 2 Methods of Punishment”, by Charlie Cain
“Muskegon and Kalamazoo counties take different approaches to crime”
04/14/2008 – The Detroit News: “Bulging Prisons Drain Michigan’s Budget”, by Charlie Cain and Gary Heinlein
“Michigan runs one of the nation’s largest and most costly prison systems, a $2 billion-a-year expense that is crowding out other spending priorities at a rate many officials fear the state can no longer afford.”
03/26/2008 – Livingston Daily: “Phil Power: Michigan is Losing This Con Game”
“The Center for Michigan has just published a first-ever comprehensive benchmarking study, ‘Michigan Scorecard: Benchmarks for Michigan’s Transformation.’”
03/23/2008 – Detroit Free Press: “Break Cycle of Crime”, by Jeff Gorwitt
“Everyone has a stake in safer neighborhoods—and in lowering the enormous costs of incarceration.”
02/15/2008 – Gongwer News Report – Michigan Report: “Cropsey Takes on Corrections ‘Myths’”
“Research by the nonprofit Citizens Research Council (CRC) shows Michigan houses more prisoners than any of the 12 Midwest states – more than 50,000. Though Michigan is the eighth-largest state, it is fifth in number of prisoners, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics.”
02/08/2008 – Detroit Free Press: “Prison Cut Depends on Sensible Reforms”
“Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s plan to cut $50 million from the state Department of Corrections is a good start—but only if it’s accomplished by cutting the inmate population and closing prisons. Other states have shown this can be done, selectively and safely.”
01/17/2008 – “Chief: Half of 07 Killers on Probation, Parole”, by Zachary Gorchow
“About half of those identified as committing homicides in Detroit in 2007 were on parole or probation, according to data released Wednesday by Chief Ella Bully-Cummings.”
12/12/2007 – Associated Press: “After Tough Year, Granholm Ready to Move on in 2008”, by Kathy Barks Hoffman
“Among [Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s] top priorities will be changing sentencing laws to shrink the number of people heading to prison, potentially saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars. She proposed the changes early this year, but the state’s budget problems overwhelmed nearly everything else, leaving many of her proposals undone.”
10/21/2007 – The Oakland Press: “Back Behind Bars”
“Some conscientious public officials – here and elsewhere – are increasingly wondering whether prison systems are giving a good enough return on the taxpayer’s dollar.”
07/09/2007 – The Detroit News:“Follow Texas Lead in Reforming State Prisons”, by Glenn Gilbert
“The U.S. now has more than two million people behind bars. In Michigan, that surge is eating up scarce state funds that are needed for investment in higher education and economic development—the essentials to rebuilding the state economy.”