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State To Close Prison In Northwest Michigan

MPRN

(MPRN-Lansing) The state Department of Corrections plans to close the Pugsley Correctional Facility in northwest Michigan later this year. 

Michigan has fewer people in prison. So it needs fewer prisons. That’s the word from corrections officials who say judges are sending fewer people to prison to begin with, and rehabilitation efforts are also succeeding.

Corrections department spokesman ChrisGautz says 

“We’ve done a really good job at making sure that we don’t have repeat customers at the Department of Corrections, so fewer people are coming back to us.”

Michigan hasn’t closed a prison in five years. While the number of men in prison – and the overall number of inmates – is going down in Michigan, the number of women in prison is going up.

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