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| GOP split on Ionia prison closing |
| By detroitnews.com - Chad Livengood |
| Published: 04/30/2012 |
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Lansing— A proposal to close an Ionia prison and transfer inmates to a privately owned facility has sparked a debate within the ranks of Republican lawmakers about whether only government should be in the incarceration business. At least one GOP lawmaker believes privately run prisons could be as significant a change in how prisons are run as charter schools were to public education. "Everybody sharpens their pencils and looks at a new way of doing things when they have competition," said Rep. Joe Haveman, R-Holland. But legislation authorizing the Department of Corrections to contract with a multinational company to house convicts in its rural west Michigan correctional facility has been stalled for months because there are not enough Republican votes in the House to pass the bill, Haveman said. "To give up the entire running of a prison, I think, is giving up too much control," said Rep. Mike Callton, a Republican from Nashville in Barry County, who has constituents who work in Ionia's five prisons. To bypass opponents like Callton, Republican budget writers, instead of trying to get a law passed in the GOP-dominated House, added a provision to the proposed 2012-13 Department of Corrections budget requiring the department to close the Michigan Reformatory in Ionia and accept bids for a privately run prison. The budget plan assumes $7.1 million in net savings to the department's $2 billion budget under the plan. The department doesn't support shuttering the 1,300-bed prison and wasn't consulted, spokesman Russ Marlan said. "We feel a closure isn't needed," the department's legislative liaison, Jessica Peterson, recently told the House Appropriations Committee. Following the January closing of Mound Correctional Facility in Detroit, Corrections Director Dan Heyns had said the agency would not need to close any more prisons in the near future. Read More. |
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