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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 1565
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 11:43 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20070220/U PDATE/702200444

excerpt:
quote:

State closing Jackson prison to help balance budget

Facility houses 15 percent of Michigan's prisoner population
David Eggert / Associated Press

LANSING -- The state plans to close a 1,500-inmate prison in Jackson by July to save money and help balance the state budget, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections said Tuesday.

The Southern Michigan Correctional Facility -- one of five prisons in Jackson -- will close, corrections spokesman Russ Marlan told The Associated Press. Nearly 7,800 inmates are incarcerated in Jackson overall -- 15 percent of Michigan's prisoner population.

"This is a first step in implementing the budget proposal," Marlan said.

The prison closing likely won't be the only one, as Gov. Jennifer Granholm plans to parole 5,000 more prisoners in the next budget year to cut costs.

...

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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 1413
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 11:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I heard somewhere Michigan's prison population is something like 55,000 people. Thats AMAZING.
I wonder where we rank in the nation. I bet pretty high.
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Johnnny5
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Username: Johnnny5

Post Number: 440
Registered: 06-2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 12:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I know there's a joke here about this helping Detroit's declining population, but I doubt I can handle the backlash. Oh well I'm sure someone will come up with one.
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Yaktown
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Username: Yaktown

Post Number: 110
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 12:21 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

So I can cruise down I-94 and pick up all the hitch-hikers I want now? Yay!
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 861
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 12:42 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sloppy editing on this article.

The portion of the headline, "Facility houses 15 percent of Michigan's prisoner population," is a glaring typo.

The article says the prison to be closed has 1,500 inmates, and "Nearly 7,800 inmates are incarcerated in Jackson overall -- 15 percent of Michigan's prisoner population."

That contradicts the headline.
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B24liberator
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Username: B24liberator

Post Number: 22
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 9:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Prison Fun Facts: US Prison population ballooned by 8X-- 700,000 inmates between 1970 and 2005. Will further grow by 192,000 convicts by 2011.
The Pew Charitable Trust then estimates that by then (2011), 1 in 178 US residents will then be incarcerated, at a cost of 27.5 billion dollars.
The Pew data doesn't even include local jails nationwide which adds another 750,000 (est.) inmates to the total. US prison pop. will then be at 2.2 million, by far the largest of any country in the world.... Most of this 'ballooning' can be of course, contributed to the harsher drug crime penalties... Prisons! Across the board, a national growth industry.
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1953
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Username: 1953

Post Number: 1308
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 9:32 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I believe we rank third in total prison population, behind only California and Texas.
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Jt1
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Username: Jt1

Post Number: 8366
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 9:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Total population or per capita. Texas and Cali have much higher populations that Michigan. Cali is about 3.5 times the population of Michigan and Texas is more than double the population.

But then you have to wonder what we, or our citizens are doing so much differently from the states that have more population and less inmates:
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Karl
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Username: Karl

Post Number: 6334
Registered: 09-2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 10:02 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jt1 said: "But then you have to wonder what we, or our citizens are doing so much differently from the states that have more population and less inmates."

It all starts at home. An outsider like Bill Cosby gets, um, about 96% of it right.
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Rusty
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Username: Rusty

Post Number: 438
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 10:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't believe their closing the entire prison, just certain facilities within it. At one time, SMP was the largest prison facility in the United States. Very confusing headline.

(Message edited by RUSTY on February 21, 2007)
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Johnlodge
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Username: Johnlodge

Post Number: 149
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 10:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Legalize Marijuana and tax the hell out of it. Suddenly we have room in our prisons for the people who should really be there, are spending less money, and making more. I dunno, seems like simple sense. Especially since it was only outlawed because Dow chemical lobbied the government to protect profits from their paper from wood pulp process, and hemp makes more paper for less money and is more renewable. But we all know that story.
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Fury13
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Username: Fury13

Post Number: 1359
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 11:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

But we all know that story.

I don't know if we "all" know that story, but the potheads certainly know about it! :-)
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Johnlodge
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Username: Johnlodge

Post Number: 150
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 11:19 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That might be true Fury. Well just in case it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Emperor- Wears-Clothes-Authoritative-Hi storical/dp/1878125028

A great book, a lot of fun, but also full of sad sad truths.
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Detroit_stylin
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Username: Detroit_stylin

Post Number: 3864
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 11:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Since Karl always claims that criminals are the product of dysfunctional families, I wonder how he would excuse † these products of upper middle class families who were always there for them in the familial lifestyle Karl promotes?

Or were they a special case Karl or conveniently forgotten about?
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Cambrian
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Username: Cambrian

Post Number: 647
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 11:45 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sounds like another one of those Onion articles.

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