LANSING, MI (AP)-- Higher security-level prisoners could be housed at the former Michigan Youth
Correctional Facility in the northern Lower Peninsula under a bill moving through the state Legislature.
The facility could allow prisoners with any security level to be housed there under legislation approved Thursday 57-53 in the Republican-led House.
The private facility is north of Baldwin in Lake County's Webber Township and currently is limited to housing prisoners with a security level of four or below. A security level of six is the most restrictive.
The facility has been closed since 2011. Supporters of the bill say the security-level change would allow the facility to reopen and create jobs.
Opponents of the change include labor unions, which say private prisons lack accountability.