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| Michigan Officials Struggle to Handle Growing Prison Population |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/16/2002 |
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Tougher sentencing laws and a reluctance to parole violent offenders could force officials to expand Michigan's prison system at a time when the state is slashing its budget. State corrections officials plan to reopen mothballed prisons next year and are considering new construction, The Detroit News reported. The Michigan Department of Corrections can't handle an unexpected influx of new prisoners. And spending for prisons, currently at $1.6 billion a year, will have to increase by about $150 million next year to keep up with the rising number of inmates, according to Tom Clay of the independent Citizens Research Council of Michigan and other fiscal analysts. At the same time, the state Legislature is trying to head off a projected $1.8 billion state budget deficit for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2003, by approving $337.4 million in budget cuts. The cuts, approved recently by the House and Senate Appropriations committees, include $12.6 million in cuts for corrections. The prison system is brimming with 49,611 inmates and is down to its last 310 open beds, Corrections Department spokesman Russ Marlan said. At the same time, the department must reopen mothballed prisons to gain 2,500 more beds before next October. The department has no more room for female prisoners and is running out of ways to squeeze in additional male prisoners, said Fred Parks, executive director of the Michigan Corrections Organization, a labor union that represents prison employees. Corrections officials are confronting faster-growing prison admissions following a decade in which increases were modest. Department figures show the prison population grew by just 679 inmates in 1999, by 1,321 in 2000 and 1,496 in 2001. This year's growth through October already has added 2,294 inmates. |
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