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| Officials tour prison facility, looking for a solution to closure |
| By tuscolatoday.com - Mary Drier |
| Published: 06/20/2012 |
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CARO — The one definitive answer about the fate of the Tuscola County Residential Reentry facility is the closure date, but no promises were made about the facility’s future. After being delayed twice, the tour of the reentry facility outside of Caro happened Monday. “We have a need for a facility for veterans with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and brain injury, especially in this region of the state,” said 84th District Representative Kurt Damrow. “I’d say about two-thirds of our veterans are from the Greater Thumb area. There is a need for a facility in this area to help them.” According to Damrow, there is a high percentage of veterans from recent wars with PTSD and traumatic brain injury. “It’s higher with these veterans because they’ve done multiple tours… five, six or more,” he said. “With all of the explosions, there are a lot of brain injuries. They’re soldiers so they just shake it off and keep going. “Plus, there are a lot of homeless veterans and some who need help adjusting back (to civilian life). They all need help and a place to get it.” Damrow says there are about 730,000 veterans in the state, and for every one that is killed in action there are at least 27 others who are injured. Along with Damrow, Michigan Department of Corrections officials and local officials toured to reentry facility to assess if it would meet that need and to have a better understand of its layout for options for its reuse. Those who did the tour were: 84th District State Rep. Kurt Damrow (R – Elkton) Tuscola County Economic Development Director Steve Erickson county commission Chair Jerry Peterson, county Controller Mike Hoagland, MDOC’s Administrator Denise Allsberry, Director Daniel Heyns, and Legislative Liaison Jessica Peterson. “The property would make an excellent veterans home for southeast Michigan. The building and grounds are in great shape, much of it looks new,” said Damrow noting that fact could be a leverage to convince the federal government to back a veteran program there. In trying to partner with government, there is generally a split of monetary efforts. “In a 35-65 percent split, we might be able to use the good shape of the facility as a bargaining point to get them to work with us on this on making it a veterans’’ home,” said Damrow noting he hand hoped to be able to have veteran affairs representatives also tour the facility, but was unable to schedule it. Caro’s reentry site is being closed to trim MDOC costs. The site runs about $3.2 million in operation costs, and the MDOC spends approximately $500,000 in transportation costs moving offenders to and from the facility in Caro. Read More. |
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