GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES IN SPENDING - AND IN CUTS

A CNN report June 5th, states that Michigan is closing 8 prisons - allowing 1000 employees to be fired and saving $120 million; three facilities were closed earlier this year. The State has assured voters that no inmate will be released early as a result - i.e., displaced prisoners will be squeezed into other facilities. Currently 22% of the State's general fund budget is allocated to the Corrections Department (the amounts for cops, prosecutors, courts etc are not given - nor is the proportion of inmates incarcerated on drug-related charges).