michigan department of corrections

In this morning's news: possible cap on FOIA fees, Lansing's budget showdown, education for inmates

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:52:30 +0000

Legislation in Michigan House could cap FOIA fees

There is new legislation up for initial hearing this week in Lansing. It is a response to local governments and state agencies charging hefty fees for people to see government records.

"One of the bills would limit most charges for requests filed under the state’s Freedom of Information Act to no more than 10 cents a page. Another would create a Michigan Open Government Commission to hear challenges to government denials of information requests," Michigan Radio's Rick Pluta reports.

Lansing City Council vs. Mayor Virg Bernero

The Lansing city council will vote tonight on a budget for next year. Michigan Radio's Steve Carmody reports that "the vote will likely put the council at odds with Mayor Virg Bernero."

The mayor wants to add annual fees for city water and electricity customers. Conversely, the council wants to make several spending cuts including eliminating several new positions the mayor wants to add to the city's payroll. Mayor Virg Bernero will have until Thursday to veto parts of the city budget he doesn’t like. The Lansing city council has until early June to try to override the mayor’s expected vetoes.

Higher education opportunities piloted in Michigan prisons

"After years without funding for prisoners to access higher education, the Michigan Department of Corrections is immersed in several efforts to teach community college courses and vocational training in-house to a small number of inmates who are near parole. Michigan will join a pilot project that hopes to gather enough evidence to possibly resurrect publicly supported postsecondary education in prisons nationally," reports The Detroit News.

Muskegon prison reopens; set to employ 240

Rina Miller — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:59:06 +0000

The Muskegon Correctional Facility has reopened and will employ 240 people.

That is freeing up space for inmates in other parts of the state.

Michigan began closing prisons in 2007 as part of budget cuts. The Muskegon Correctional Facility was shut down in 2009.

Now the 1,300 bed, medium-security facility is open again and the state has begun transferring inmates from other places—mostly from the Ryan Correction Facility in Detroit.

Russ Marlan is a Department of Corrections spokesman.

Prison guards protest plans to end regular perimeter patrols at Michigan prisons

Steve Carmody — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:09:13 +0000

State prison guards are upset over plans to end regular perimeter patrols outside 27 of Michigan’s 31 state prisons. Guards protested outside the Corrections Department’s Lansing headquarters today.

The Corrections Department says changing to random patrols, and adding cameras and motion sensors will save the state $13 million.

Mel Grieshaber is the head of the Michigan Corrections Organization, the prison guards union. He says the decision to end perimeter patrols is just part of a pattern.

Tasers may soon end up in Michigan prisons

Steve Carmody — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:16:56 +0000

The state corrections department plans to test the use of tasers in four state prisons.

The pilot program is intended to see if the electro-shock devices can be effective when dealing with unruly and uncooperative prison inmates.

Andy Potter is the vice president of the state prison guards union. He says the union has wanted to arm guards with tasers for years.

Potter says "being able to utilize them when an inmate is being disruptive just makes sense.”

The American Civil Liberties Union is raising some concerns about the plan. The ACLU says the corrections department should implement clear guidelines for the use of tasers so that they are not misused.

Tasers are used by many law enforcement agencies, but their use has been criticized by groups who point to incidents of abuse and even death.

State to close Mound prison

Sarah Hulett — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:24:20 +0000

State prison officials say Mound Correctional Facility in Detroit will close in January as part of a broader effort to cut costs by more than $60 million a year.

Mound will be the 15^th correctional facility to close in about five years. The state’s prison population is down about 8,300 inmates since March of 2007.

One of the reasons Mound was chosen for closure is because there are other facilities that are relatively close by, says Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan:

Guard accused of smuggling drugs, tobacco into prison

Rick Pluta — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:13:57 +0000

A guard at the state prison in Newberry is being held in the Mackinaw City jail awaiting felony charges of trying to smuggle contraband to inmates. John Cordell is with the Michigan Department of Corrections.

"It appears from the investigation that he was trying to introduce contraband – both heroin and contraband tobacco, which is illegal inside facilities – inside the correctional facility."

Cordell says the man faces at least three felony charges. He says the scheme was detected from monitoring phone traffic into the prison and information from a cell phone that was seized from a prisoner.

The guard was stopped and arrested in downtown Mackinaw City. Cordell says the contraband was in the corrections officer’s car.

The guard has also been suspended without pay from his job at the prison in the eastern Upper Peninsula.

New Department of Corrections Chief named

Mark Brush — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:16:08 +0000

Governor Rick Snyder has named Jackson County Sheriff Daniel Heyns as the new director of the Michigan Department of Corrections. He'll start his new duties on June 1st.

From the Governor's Press release:

Heyns earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1973 and a master’s in criminal justice, with a correctional administration focus, from Michigan State University in 1977. Heyns obtained his State of Michigan Police Officer Certification in 1981, is a graduate of the National FBI Academy and has completed special weapons and tactics training...
Heyns, of Jackson, has served as Jackson County sheriff since 2003. He is responsible for a $12.5 million budget, a 450-bed jail operation, 911 central dispatch center and multiple specialized units including marine patrol, detective bureau, K-9, narcotics, traffic, firearms, Special Response Team and school liaison. He previously served as Jackson County undersheriff and was a captain in the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

The Associated Press notes that Heyns was a vocal opponent of Governor Granholm's plan to release more nonviolent prisoners eligible for parole.

State to close prison

Steve Carmody — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:29:48 +0000

The state Department of Corrections is closing a state prison in southern Michigan. The move will save the state millions of dollars. The Florence Crane correctional facility in Coldwater costs about $27 million a year to operate.

The facility houses about a thousand mainly older inmates, many with serious health problems. Those inmates will be sent to other prisons around the state.

John Cordell is the state Corrections Department spokesman. He says the state will be careful when placing these inmates in other facilities.

“We don’t want to place prisoners in a situation where…they have a pressing health care need, but the health care provider is a hundred miles away, every time we have to take them back and forth. It doesn’t make any sense.”

The Coldwater prison will not be the only state prison closing this summer. The Muskegon Correctional facility is also scheduled to close in June. Cordell says the state doesn’t need the two prisons anymore.

“We expect that by June first we’ll have well over a thousand beds that are empty within the system. So we can identify this prison. Close it. Place those prisoners within the beds in the system and we’ll still have some cushion.”

Michigan’s prison inmate population has declined from a high of 51,000 in 2007 to just under 44,000 today.

The Daily Reporter in Coldwater notes that Michigan's Corrections Department has been cutting back for some time:

In 2009, to save more than $118 million, Gov. Jennifer Granholm closed three prisons and five camps. They were the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility, along with prisons in Muskegon and Kincheloe. In addition, the state closed camps in Shingleton, Painesdale, Iron River, Grayling and White Lake. The cuts impacted more than 1,000 state employees. Although there was much talk, there were no closures last year.