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| Mich. prison population down for second year |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 02/07/2005 |
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Michigan's overall prison population dropped for the second consecutive year in 2004, but a recent uptick in inmates has state corrections officials expecting the system will reach capacity in July. The prison population has increased dramatically in the past five months at a rate of about 100 a month, bringing the total number to nearly 48,600 -- just 700 short of capacity, state Department of Corrections officials told a state Senate committee last Tuesday. "We have entered a period of heightened uncertainty," Corrections Department Director Patricia Caruso said in a memo to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt. The Corrections Department expects the state's female prison population to hit its maximum level sooner than the male population. Less than 50 of the 1,144 prison beds for women are expected to be open this spring while less than 300 of the 47,130 beds for men are projected to be open this summer, the department said. The state, however, has made some strides in keeping down the prison population. The number of new prison inmates in 2004 dropped by 500 to 9,800, or nearly 5 percent. Steve DeBor, administrator for planning and research for the Corrections Department, told committee members that the state has made more prison alternatives available to low-level, first-time offenders, including community programs and drug treatment. Additional treatment and rehabilitation programs at the local level have helped the state drop the number of prison inmates by 900 since 2002, a two-year decline of nearly 2 percent. Department spokesman Russ Marlan said the state will continue looking at similar options to keep from opening mothballed prisons in Ionia and Jackson counties, which would be a strain on the state's already strapped budget. He declined to give specific details. Department officials expect their projections for the coming months will hold up. Their estimates for last year, issued in February 2004, were almost entirely correct. |
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