The Center for Michigan joined with a dozen other leading business, education, nonprofit and government groups this week to "strongly urge the governor and Michigan Legislature to quickly and comprehensively reform the Michigan prison system and corrections policies," with a goal of reducing state corrections spending by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Read the full letter here.

The leaders released the letter the same day the Legislature approved Gov. Jennifer Granholm's executive order for more than $100 million in state budget cuts. Those cuts included some moves to reign in tens of millions of dollars in prison spending. But a diverse range of interest groups say much more work must be done to deal with the $2 billion Corrections Department.

Numerous reform strategies are floating in Lansing, ranging from operations reforms to sentencing reforms. A summary of those approaches is here.

Those signing this week's letter were:

Richard E. Blouse, president and CEO, Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce
Michael A. Boulus, executive director, Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan
Kyle Caldwell, president and CEO, Michigan Nonprofit Association
Robert Fowler, president and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan
Daniel Gilmartin, executive director of the Michigan Municipal League
Charles E. Hadden, president and CEO, Michigan Manufacturers Association
Michael Jandernoa, private citizen, Grand Rapids
Bill Martin, CEO, Michigan Association of Realtors
Phil Power, president, The Center for Michigan
Jeanne Englehart, president & CEO, Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce
Doug Rothwell, president, Detroit Renaissance
Ken Sikkema, senior policy fellow, Public Sector Consultants
Richard K. Studley, president, Michigan Chamber of Commerce
S. Martin Taylor, private citizen, Grosse Pointe