Key Michigan legislators have a tentative, bipartisan deal to slice $260 million from a huge state prison budget that has steadily overshadowed other strategic priorities for the state’s future. But, wait! The reform plan announced Thursday — while a good first step — isn’t nearly as revolutionary as it sounds.
The bottom line… Thursday’s prison reform recommendations by the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center don’t go nearly as far as the “hundreds of millions” in annual savings requested by a diverse coalition of business, nonprofit, education and local government groups.
Turns out that the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center (CSG) was directed to pretty much avoid talking about the two big elephants in the corrections system — sentencing reforms and operations reforms.
Click for CSG’s background study or its budget and policy recommendations.
If Michigan lightened its sentencing guidelines and kept felons in prison at a rate consistent with other Great Lakes states, Michigan could save hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s the assertion of some in Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration as well as some Democratic legislators, the Citizens Research Council, Public Sector Consultants, and business groups like the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce and Detroit Renaissance.
Or, the state could save hundreds of millions of dollars if Michigan tightened the way it does business in prisons by instituting efficiencies, tightening work rules, and privatizing some prison operations. That’s the assertion of some Senate Republicans and business groups.
But Thursday’s much-anticipated CSG report focused only on “consensus” approaches and thus side-stepped the tougher decisions in Michigan’s toughest departmental budget.
Still, Thursday’s report is a positive step representing reams of some of the best research done on any state prison system in the country. The report recommends limiting prison time served to 120 percent of minimum sentences to cut costs while providing better job training to help ex-cons avoid a return to the system, which costs Michigan taxpayers more than $30,000 per inmate per year.
Quick legislative passage of the CSG recommendations could provide momentum for the tougher corrections decisions to come. And, those tough decisions ARE coming.
“It’s a step,” state corrections director Patricia Caruso said of Thursday’s CSG recommendations. “We’re not done.”
Moves to watch for in the next few weeks:
GOVERNOR’S STATE OF THE STATE AND BUDGET MESSAGES: Will Granholm recommend cutting tens of millions or more from prison operations? Will she go along with calls to privatize some operations like food service? Will she close more prisons? If so, where?
LEGISLATIVE MOVES: Will Republicans press for a full, wide-ranging audit of all prison system expenditures? Law-and-order Senator Alan Cropsey said Thursday “that could be good idea. Auditor General reports on bits and pieces of the $2 billion prison system have, in recent months, suggested tens of millions in questionable practices and expenses in the department. Across the aisle, Representative Alma Wheeler-Smith and representatives of the Granholm Administration said they want to continue to push for sentencing reforms.
CREATIVE IDEAS: Can other reform approaches carve out space and gain traction in the moment of crsis? For example, a group called Hope Network has tried for months and months to pitch a plan to transfer hundreds of medically infirm prisoners to federally funded residential treatment centers outside prison walls. The group maintains it can save Michigan taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars this way. Is there hope for Hope Network and other examples of out-of-the-box thinking?
Meantime, a diverse coalition of business, non-profit, educational and public sector groups continue to keep the pressure on for corrections reforms.
Crain’s Detroit Business reported the back story of how more than a dozen such groups came together and raised eyebrows in the Corrections Department and beyond… “Corrections Director Patricia Caruso said she welcomes the interest… and saw the December corrections letter from the various groups as ‘very significant,’ because of ‘the diversity of groups who signed it and the clear level of commitment to see change occur.’”
Likewise, Interlochen Public Radio described some of the tough choices in this recent audio report.
No matter which corrections reforms the governor and legislators ultimately enact or cast aside, there’s no denying the deepening social issues at the root of Michigan’s prison problem. Consider these statistics released by CSG Thursday:
3 Comments
Dear John Bebow,
Greetings. Thank you very much for the fine reporting on our Michigan prison system and
related actions.
I taught for three years within our MDOC, first
for Jackson Community College in 1995 (unfortunately
the last of thirty years for that institution’s involvement in offering college education to our
Michigan felons), and second, for Montcalm Community
College, 1996-7, through their COPE program
(Community Opportunity Prison Extension).
I still have essays from my writing students,for the
purpose of writing a book, about our classes, which
would be called ,”Voices of Invisible Men”. Believe me, the wisdom contained in those essays could easily provide sage guidance for the reforms that are trying to happen in Michigan, finally. Almost,
always their voices are overlooked, to the detriment
of all of us.
A huge white elephant that hardly ever gets talked about, is our failed War on Drugs and its consider-
able contribution to our justice system problems
under discussion. I have been so broken-hearted to
see my country and Michigan develop into the champion prison builders on planet Earth. And an-
other white elephant, that hardly ever gets talked about, at the national or local levels, is the truly
tragic, comparative incarceration rates for white males, contrasted to males of color. It is a national disgrace, almost beyond comprehension, to
any intelligent human being who will dare look at the startling statistics.
John, I hope to hear from you about the above thoughts, at your earliest convenience. Thank you.
sincerely,
Eric W. Crosley
Why are discussions not had of “good time credits”. Why cannot those inmates who are quietly doing their time without incident be recognized and commended? This would be a proactive way of decreasing the numbers.
Rep Cushingberry presented legislation in February of 2007 (HB 4263) regarding good time credits. After his presentation absolutely nothing happened.
i agree with pam that good time credits would reduce the prison population. we also have to retrain the prisoners so that they are prepared to reenter society with skills to get a job or they will be right back in prison in no time. i think the prison administration made a big mistake in stopping the sell of cigarettes to prisoners. if this action causes unrest in the prison system we’ll have to increase the number of prison guard personel and that will mean more tax dollors wasted.