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| New plans for old prisons |
| By freep.com |
| Published: 01/25/2010 |
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Northville Township Manager Chip Snider thinks it's time for some changes at the closed Robert Scott Correctional Facility. "I think we can take the concertina wire down, so it doesn't look like we're in Guantánamo Bay," Snider said, noting that the state should try to make the 35-acre facility across 5 Mile from a Home Depot less ominous visually. Snider and other township officials have been eagerly awaiting word on the future of the former women's prison since it closed in May, but that wait may be ending. The Michigan Department of Corrections is expected to declare the property surplus by Feb. 1, one of the key first steps before the state can begin marketing the prison. State officials say Scott's location at a busy intersection a short distance from M-14 in the affluent Northville area makes it prime property for reuse. But they also acknowledge that closed prisons elsewhere in Michigan face challenges to redevelopment because they are typically in rural areas, and they were built specifically for holding prisoners. The state Department of Management and Budget currently lists only four prisons as surplus -- including the closed Western Wayne Correctional Facility a short distance east of Scott in Plymouth Township. But the state has closed at least 19 prison facilities since 2002. Read More. |
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