Audit adds to criticism of Michigan's parolee program

Lansing — Michigan's Prisoner Re-entry Initiative has won national acclaim for helping ex-convicts stay out of trouble, but critics say the state is undercounting lapsed parolees to make the program appear more successful than it is.

The criticism comes amid an audit of the 6-year-old Department of Corrections program that found other shortcomings, including overcharging vendors for services and allowing conflicts of interest between contractors and subcontractors.

Jim Chihak, a former parole and probation officer who was part of a panel that evaluated the program this spring, said the program's intent — to keep prisoners from returning to prison — is admirable, but "the way it's being handled is a disaster."  Read more...

Michigan's parole policy costs taxpayers $280 million a year

Michigan often keeps inmates long after other states would have released them for similar crimes, driving up prison costs by millions of dollars a year and eating up a quarter of the state's general fund.

In the two years before she left office in December, former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm encouraged the parole board to be more lenient when it came to releasing prisoners who'd served their minimum sentences.  Read more...

States Help Ex-Inmates Find Jobs

Faced with yawning budget gaps and high unemployment, California, Michigan, New York and several other states are attacking both problems with a surprising strategy: helping ex-convicts find jobs to keep them from ending up back in prison.

The approach is backed by prisoner advocates as well as liberal and conservative government officials, who say it pays off in cold, hard numbers. Michigan, for example, spends $35,000 a year to keep someone in prison — more than the cost of educating a University of Michigan student. Through vigorous job placement programs and prudent use of parole, state officials say they have cut the prison population by 7,500, or about 15 percent, over the last four years, yielding more than $200 million in annual savings. Michigan spends $56 million a year on various re-entry programs, including substance abuse treatment and job training.  Read more...

Michigan has lower rates of felons that go to prison than other Great Lakes states, prosecutors say

KALAMAZOO — There is a perception that Michigan prisons are full of low-level criminals whose release would reduce both overcrowding and state budget constraints, but the reality is, “it takes a lot to get sent to prison,” a local prosecutor said.

Nationally, 40 percent of felony convictions result in a prison term, said Jeff Fink, Kalamazoo County’s prosecuting attorney, citing research released last year by the Council of State Governments Justice Center. In Michigan the rate was 23 percent.  Read More...

Do Michigan's prison changes put the public at risk?

Earlier paroles.

Fewer parole violators returned to prison.

More commutations and pardons.

Lower security levels for many state prisoners.

These policies of the Michigan Department of Corrections, combined with Michigan's prisoner re-entry program, are translating into lower costs for the state and a shrinking prison population -- down more than 7,000, or nearly 14 percent, in three years. An MDOC-endorsed proposal to end Michigan's "truth in sentencing" law -- which requires prisoners to serve at least their minimum sentence -- would accelerate those trends if it passes the Legislature.  Read More...