LANSING, Mich. - Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm sent a letter Monday to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger formally offering to house - for a fee - some of the Golden State's prison inmates.
Michigan plans to close two prisons by the end of September: the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility about 145 miles northwest of Detroit and a medium-security prison in Muskegon, located in central Michigan.
Michigan could save the jobs of about half of the 1,000 prison guards it plans to lay off by Oct. 1 if California accepts the offer, and California could alleviate some of its prison overcrowding.
California corrections spokesman Seth Unger said Monday that his state plans to send a team in mid-July to look over the prisons and determine if a deal makes sense. The state has 7,600 of its 168,000 inmates in private correctional facilities in Arizona, Tennessee, Mississippi and Oklahoma, but so far none are in state-run prisons outside California.
"If Michigan can offer the same level of security and a competitive price that makes sense for California taxpayers, we would take a look at it," Unger said. California spends about $46,000 a year housing each inmate in-state.
The two governors spoke by phone June 18 about working out a possible deal, said Granholm spokeswoman Megan Brown. The directors of the two corrections departments and their staffs are in discussions about how much California would pay and other details, she added.
Michigan spends about $30,000 annually to house each of its inmates. It's unclear how much California might pay to have Michigan house its prisoners because cost depends on the level of services provided.
Granholm "wants to be very aggressive to see what we can do to reuse these facilities," Brown said. "This is our first choice. It will allow our employees to keep their jobs. And it will have economic impact, but it won't be Michigan general fund dollars."
Granholm issued an executive order in May that cut around $300 million from the state general fund, the state's main checkbook. Lawmakers and the administration are looking for ways to close a $1.8 billion general fund shortfall in the budget year that starts Oct. 1.
Since the number of inmates peaked at a record high 51,554 two years ago, Michigan prisons have seen their population drop to 47,200, enabling the economically struggling state to cut costs by closing prisons. The state hopes to see the number drop to 45,000 by year's end.
It already has closed two prisons and at least one prison camp this year and will close five prison camps and three prisons by December, including the two it is offering to California.
Despite the closings, the state still spends nearly $2 billion annually on corrections - more than it spends on higher education - and is looking to decrease that further by increasing paroles and commutations and reducing recidivism.
California, meanwhile, is embroiled in a federal lawsuit over revamping the prison medical system and, under judges' orders, is considering releasing thousands of inmates early as a way to save money and relieve overcrowding, which the courts ruled was the chief reason for poor inmate medical care. The state also is struggling to close a $24.3 billion budget deficit in the fiscal year that starts Wednesday.
But Granholm sees the possible deal as good for both states.
"I believe this opportunity has great potential and could be mutually beneficial at a time when states need to rely on each other like never before," she said in her letter to Schwarzenegger. "It would allow California to address some of its immediate needs for additional prison beds and prisoner preparation for release and would permit some of Michigan's very talented correctional and program staff to continue working."
