By Staff Reports
Posted Mar 29, 2012
IONIA, Mich. —
The House Department of Corrections Appropriations Subcommittee has proposed a bill that would close the Michigan Reformatory, located in Ionia.
The bill, called House Bill 5383, would transfer prisoner beds to a facility operated under a third-party contract in 2013 as part of the Cost-Effective Housing Initiative. The proposal was recommended in the $2 billion Department of Corrections budget.
If the bill passes, the net budgeted savings from the closure of the reformatory and shift to alternate housing is about $7.1 million. Savings estimate about $42.3 million from the proposed closure alone.
Michigan State Representative Rick Outman, R-Six Lakes, said he is against the closure.
“While I am very concerned that the subcommittee targeted the Ionia prison, I will stress its importance to the Department of Corrections and feel confident the closure will be reconsidered,” said Outman in a press release. “The budgeting process has just started, and at this point the closure is simply one of many proposals to rein in government spending.”
Michigan State Representative Mike Callton, R-Nashville, is also weighing in on the issue.
“I understand the budget constraints the members of the subcommittee are up against, but these jobs are important to a lot of families around here and I will do everything I can to save them,” said Callton.
According to documents from the House Fiscal Agency, the Michigan Reformatory housed roughly 1,200 prisoners classified at security levels IV and II as of March 9. The reformatory is the oldest prison in Michigan and currently employs 339 people in Ionia and the surrounding areas.
The bill, called House Bill 5383, would transfer prisoner beds to a facility operated under a third-party contract in 2013 as part of the Cost-Effective Housing Initiative. The proposal was recommended in the $2 billion Department of Corrections budget.
If the bill passes, the net budgeted savings from the closure of the reformatory and shift to alternate housing is about $7.1 million. Savings estimate about $42.3 million from the proposed closure alone.
Michigan State Representative Rick Outman, R-Six Lakes, said he is against the closure.
“While I am very concerned that the subcommittee targeted the Ionia prison, I will stress its importance to the Department of Corrections and feel confident the closure will be reconsidered,” said Outman in a press release. “The budgeting process has just started, and at this point the closure is simply one of many proposals to rein in government spending.”
Michigan State Representative Mike Callton, R-Nashville, is also weighing in on the issue.
“I understand the budget constraints the members of the subcommittee are up against, but these jobs are important to a lot of families around here and I will do everything I can to save them,” said Callton.
According to documents from the House Fiscal Agency, the Michigan Reformatory housed roughly 1,200 prisoners classified at security levels IV and II as of March 9. The reformatory is the oldest prison in Michigan and currently employs 339 people in Ionia and the surrounding areas.
**This information is being shared by Citizens for Prison Reform for purely informational purposes.
Citizens for Prison Reform
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"
-Martin Luther King
Website: www.micpr.org
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