MARQUETTE, MI-- Current Upper Peninsula lawmakers and a former Representative are responding to the announcement the Michigan Department of Corrections will close the Ojibway Correctional Facility in Marenisco on December 1, 2018.
They issued the following press releases:
Representative Scott Dianda:
“This morning, I was very disappointed and upset to learn that the Michigan Department of Corrections is choosing to close Ojibway Correctional Facility in Gogebic County. This closure is exactly why I voted against the most recent state budget, which slashed corrections and led directly to this outcome. Under the Michigan constitution, we have a responsibility to provide for roads, public education, and prisons. Republican leadership in Lansing has failed in these basic duties.
“We don't know yet the full economic impact this will have on our local communities, but I am demanding that Gov. Snyder immediately begin working with corrections employees to ensure that they have the full benefit of the state’s resources and job placement opportunities.
“Moving forward, we need Lansing to take the well-being of UP communities seriously. This state announced this closure without a plan and without an economic development study that could help the residents Gogebic County. This is absolutely unacceptable, and I will continue to fight for economic development opportunities in the UP so we can preserve our way of life.”
Representative Sara Cambensy:
“With the Governor's office not proposing a prison closure in his 2018-2019 budget, and the additional proposed facility closure coming from Senate and House appropriation chairs, I'm concerned about who or what is driving this decision. While all legislators are concerned about our state's bottom line when allocating taxpayer dollars during our budget negotiations, we also have a responsibility to keep our communities safe. Keeping our communities safe includes not overtaxing our local county jails and police officers who are operating their departments on shoestring budgets with limited staff and financial resources. Our local communities cannot absorb more stress on their public safety departments if we truly don't have the prison population numbers to warrant the closure of another facility. Therefore, I'm cautious to say this is a necessary and appropriate prison closure when our governor, who manages and works closely with our MDOC director and administration team, did not recommend another prison closure in his budget when he came to the legislature earlier this year."
Former Representative Ed McBroom:
The State of Michigan Department of Corrections announced the closure of Ojibway Correctional Facility in Marinesco today. Marinesco is on the far west end of the Upper Peninsula in Gogebic County. Ojibway houses about 700 prisoners and is a relatively new facility with the capability of housing over 1200. The prison employs over 200 persons in a county with some of the highest unemployment in the state.
The 2019 budget, passed in June, called for the closure of another prison in the state but it was unknown until today which facility it would be. The 2019 fiscal year begins October 1, 2018 so the time frame for the shutdown is very fast. State Senator John Proos of south-west Michigan is chairman of Corrections Appropriations in the senate and pushed hard for the closure during debate. Senator Proos, with no prisons in his district, has been a consistent fighter for closures, citing the significant reductions to state prison populations over the last 8 years.
However, former Representative Ed McBroom, had a different perspective on the closures and Senator Proos' arguments. "This closure is another example of the state being both financially dishonest as well as dismissive of the U.P.," McBroom said in a statement. "We know the reduction in population has more to do with fudging recidivism numbers and sending more prisoners to our county jails than with an actual reduction in incarcerations. This does nothing more than shift the cost from the State to our counties, who cannot afford that shift. And the costs of running Ojibway are not being fairly compared to other facilities because the state is putting undo emphasis on distance rather than taking into account the relatively young age of the facility, security of the location, and proximity to other state facilities nearby. Most of all, it is a state run, typical, myopic way of budgeting that ignores the net costs to the state by foisting such a dramatic hurt on a small, already hurting community —a community mind you that invited this prison in when other communities were turning up their noses."
McBroom has been working with State Senator Tom Casperson since the budget fight began on ways to keep the prison open. Senator Casperson's office released a statement saying, “We previously presented a plan to corrections that would have saved money while not attacking any facility and ensuring counties are not left subsidizing the closure. However, this was not the approach desired because it failed to promote the misplaced notion that ‘recidivism is at an all time low.’ I am very disappointed in this news and frustrated that the significant consequence that will result to the Western U.P. was not considered, especially after this community accepted this responsibility from the state at a time other communities shunned having a prison - the lack of recognition is a slap in the face for the whole U.P."
The closure of Ojibway will leave U.P. prisons in Baraga, Marquette, Munising, Newberry, and Kinross and follows recent closures in Iron River, Manistique, Shingleton, Painesdale, and Kincheloe.
