State May Send Some Saginaw Prisoners Home Soon to Save Money
|
||||||||||
| Printer Friendly Story View |
Saginaw Correctional Facility sits on 43-acre site in Tittabawassee Township, near Freeland
Warden Blaine W. Lafler tells Bay City Rotary Club that downsizing process is underway.
Some of the 1,500 inmates in the Saginaw Correctional Facility at Freeland could be freed soon and placed on other programs in a cost savings move, Warden Blaine W. Lafler told the Bay City Rotary Club on Tuesday, June 10.
When asked how many ofthe inmates posed no real threat to society and could be released, Lafler answered: "Quite a few."
The warden said the Michigan Department of Corrections is now evaluating the inmates and considering how many could be placed on "diversionary programs" under a "restorative justice" concept.
Those programs could involve placement in community programs, he said. Many of the inmates who could be released include third offense drunk drivers, the warden indicated. These releases would be aimedat reducing the local prison's $27 million a year cost. Each inmate costs taxpayers about $25,000 a year to incarcerate, he said.
Lafler ticked off answers to a list of questions about the state corrections program often posed by the public. He prefaced this portion of the talk by saying "it's a numbers game," noting that the staff of 400 has to control a prisoner population nearly four times larger. "They allow us to run the facility," he said frankly.
Prison officials are not corrupt,as depicted in many television shows and movies, said the warden. "I'm not a corrupt person," he commented, although admitting obliquely: "some things do happen."
The rights that prisoners have, such as access to the courts, mail and the law library, are constitutionally guaranteed rights. "Going to the store, hobbies, recreation, visits -- we can take these away if they misbehave," the warden said.
Meals are not "better than ordinary people have on the outside" he stressed, noting thatthe Freeland facility has a $2.50 a day per prisoner budget for food, but spends only $2.25 per day. "We have a statewide menu and there's no steak, lobster or cordon bleu," he said.
Prisoners pay for perks like cable TV through the Prisoner Benefit Fund,through money made on their jobs and through a portion of their purchases at the prison store.
Training, such as Adult Basic Education (elementary school), and GED (General Equivalency Degree) programs are important to "prisoner management" and to control issues in the prison. "We need to keep them busy, as well as to provide them the skills they hopefully will be able to parlay into a job on the outside," Lafler said.
Training programs include Food Technology (a restaurant is open to the public by arrangement), horticulture, building maintenance and construction. Inmates began the Prison Build Program in August, 2001, in which houses and sheds are built for Habitat for Humanity and other non-profit groups. "It's a win-win situation for everybody," enthused the warden.
A community advisory committee, which meets quarterly, and about 400 volunteers help coordinate the prison's activities with the neighborning community, the warden explained. George Heron, director of theUnited Way of Bay County, and Don Carlyon, former Delta College president and fundraising executive.
Warden Lafler is a graduate of Michigan State University, began his career as a guard at the Riverside Correctional Facility in Ionia and formerly served as deputy warden at the St. Louis Correctional Facility. He is the third warden and first male warden at Freeland,which opened in 1993.
| Printer Friendly Story View |
|
|
Dave Rogers |
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Story View
0200 Nd: 04-20-2024 d 4 cpr 0
12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm
SPONSORED LINKS
12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm