Senate Republicans Propose Closing Two Prisons, Trim Snyder's Corrections Budget Proposal

<p><em><a href="mailto:lweber@mprn.org">By Laura Weber</a></em></p> <p>The Senate proposal for the state Corrections budget spends about $100 million dollars less than Governor Rick Snyder's proposal. To save money, the Senate proposes closing two Michigan prisons, and privatizing mental health services and food services.</p> <p>Senate Republicans also say the Department of Corrections could save tens-of-millions of dollars by making sure all prisoners are parole-eligible as soon as they have served their minimum sentences.</p> <p>Republican state Senator John Proos<a name="_GoBack"></a> says that means making sure prisoners have taken necessary prisoner reentry programs in time for their parole hearings.</p> <p>"Are they getting the proper education so they can be eligible for parole at their earliest release date? The longer we keep somebody past earliest release date, the most costly it is to us," he says.</p> <p>Proos chairs the state Senate budget panel, which approved a budget that would make the prisoners eligible for parole once they have served their minimum sentences. That means about a thousand prisoners in Michigan may soon be eligible for parole even if they have not completed their required prisoner reentry programs. </p> <p>Proos says it's up to the Department of Corrections to make sure prisoners get through necessary programs on time. </p> <p>"They're in custody," he says. "Why would they not have been in rotation to have received whatever class was necessary for them to be the most eligible that they could be for the earliest parole from our prison system? And, as it turns out, if we just simply address that issue of education alone, we can save tens of millions of dollars."</p>