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| Head of Michigan prisons seeks to pare Corrections' mandate |
| By detnews.com - Paul Egan |
| Published: 08/22/2011 |
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Lansing — The head of Michigan's prison system said he wants to return the department to its "core mission" and offload responsibilities that others are better qualified to perform. "Corrections has had a kind of mission creep over the years," Dan Heyns said in an interview with The Detroit News. "We're doing mental health stuff, we're educators and job trainers, you name it. "We need to bring the Michigan Corrections Department back to its original mission, which is corrections." Heyns, the former Jackson County sheriff who has been director of the Department of Corrections since June 1, said he wants to develop a long-term strategic plan to refocus the department and how it spends its nearly $2 billion appropriation. He didn't have a date for release of the plan. Heyns and his spokesman Russ Marlan said he would like to explore the "hand off" of responsibilities in the following areas: Treating the mentally ill. Educating Job training Providing housing and transportation for parolees. Officials estimate 25 percent of the department's 43,000 prisoners have some form of mental illness and about 10 percent are seriously mentally ill. "I've got institutions that are just packed with people who are very, very seriously mentally ill," Heyns said. "These aren't stress cases. I can't exactly provide a therapeutic environment. We're struggling with that." Though they are more costly to house, Heyns said he doesn't expect he can hand off the mentally ill prisoners he has now. But he said he wants to work with sheriffs, prosecutors and other local officials to try to ensure fewer mentally ill people come to prison to begin with. He cites the example of a man who is bipolar and breaks into a vacant house to find a place to sleep. "You can say there is clearly a felony there. But is that the right place for him? It gets him out of the patrol car and off the street. But get out the check book." Read More. |
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