Public Safety

Parents in prison add stress to children, family lives

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By JOSHUA BENDER
Capital News Service
LANSING — One in 10 Michigan children has had a parent in jail or in prison, a rate so high it puts Michigan in a tie for the thir- highest rate in the nation, according to a newly released report. And that has significant ramifications for the mental health of the children. “This is as traumatic as experiencing domestic violence and abuse, in that the trauma continues to affect kids into adulthood,” said Alicia Guevara Warren, Kids Count project director for the Michigan League for Public Policy, a Lansing-based child welfare advocacy group. Losing a parent to the penal system puts children at greater risk of depression and anxiety, she said. The loss also puts a greater financial burden on families to cover basic household expenses.

Health

Older prison inmates run up state health costs

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By JOSHUA BENDER
Capital News Service
LANSING — The number of prisoners older than 50 has increased 146 percent since 1998, according to Michigan prison officials. This jump from 3,589 prisoners in that age group to 8,819 in 2014 creates a number of health care and cost challenges for state prisons, said Chris Gautz, public information officer for the Department of Corrections. The aging of inmates between 1994 and when she retired in 2012 was stark, said Carol Howes, a retired warden who worked at the Lakeland and Coldwater prisons. “The prisoner population was much sicker,” she said. Lakeland houses elderly inmates and it wouldn’t be uncommon for them to arrive from a hospital for post-operative care, Howes said.

Government

Tasers in prisons reduce injuries, inmate fights

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Officers and inmates benefit when tasers are in prisons, according to the Department of Corrections and the Michigan Corrections Organization. According to the department, employee injuries at the hands of inmates declined 17 percent between October 2011 and March 2012 compared to the previous year. There were 233 injuries compared to 281 the year before. Daniel Heyns, department director, said, “I knew it would work from my old days as a county sheriff. “I knew we could change some of those violent interactions in the institutions,” he said.

Government

More courts use cameras to charge distant prisoners

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By CELESTE BOTT
Capital News Service
LANSING – Macomb County is partnering with the state to expand its video arraignment technology to other jurisdictions, reducing the need to transport criminals from jails to courtrooms.
Sheriff Anthony Wickersham said that video arraignment of defendants who are being held outside county borders is safer and cost-effective. “Using interactive video conference technology will help us save money, operate more efficiently and improve security at the court,” Wickersham said. An arraignment is a formal reading of the charges to a defendant who is being prosecuted. A two-way video system will be used to conduct such judicial proceedings for suspects held at local or county jails and statewide prison facilities. The technology is similar to popular video conferencing programs such as Skype or FaceTime.

Government

State prisons adapting to graying, infirm inmates

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By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — When you imagine a state prison inmate, you might think of someone young and tough with arms covered in tattoos and muscles swollen from hours of pumping iron in the yard. How about wrinkled and gray with arthritic hands gripping a walker or spinning the wheels on a wheelchair? Despite an overall decline in prison population, the number of inmates above the age of 65 has increased 78 percent to 1,073 during the past decade. Those inmates make up about 2.5 percent of the prison system, but with more baby boomers entering old age, that number will only go up, officials warn. It’s a fact the Department of Corrections can’t ignore.

Government

Prisons face security level questions

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By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — During the past five years, Michigan’s prison population has dropped by nearly 8,000 and 20 facilities have closed, leaving the Department of Correction with one question to answer: Where should it keep those who stay? Matching prisoners’ security risks to the appropriate facility has become a never-ending game. The department tracks the number of prisoners within the system, as well as their security rank — Level I presenting the lowest risk and Level IV presenting the highest — and adjusts its facilities accordingly. However, some experts question the accuracy of the department’s evaluation process. Inmates are evaluated annually — twice annually if they’re new to the system — to determine if they should be moved to a different security level facility or if they should stay put.

Business & Economy

State’s corrections cuts focused on limiting inmates’ time in prison

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By JACOB KANCLERZ
Capital News Service
LANSING – Despite years of cuts and reforms, Michigan’s corrections budget is bigger than other portions of the state budget, including higher education and safety net programs.
Although the state’s prison population of about 43,000 has fallen from an all-time high of 51,554 in 2007, the Michigan Department of Corrections and a coalition of interest groups continue to push reforms, particularly in how long people stay imprisoned. The corrections department has closed 14 prisons and camps, bid out health care services, stripped away layers of administration and made other savings over the past decade, said John Cordell, a public information specialist with the Michigan Department of Corrections. It now costs just $2 a day to feed three meals to each prisoner. The corrections budget hovers around $2 billion annually (Cordell said it’s $1.93 billion this year), and the prison population is partly why, said John Bebow, the executive director for the Center for Michigan, a think tank in Ann Arbor. Although Michigan’s prison population is down 15 percent from the 2007 peak, a 2011 report from the Council of State Government showed that Michigan has the highest imprisonment rate in the Midwest.