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Number Of Prisoners Decreases In Michigan

Number Of Prisoners Decreases In Michigan image Number Of Prisoners Decreases In Michigan image
Parent Issue
Day
24
Month
September
Year
1966
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LANSING - The FBI, state and city pólice agencies say crime is on the rise. Their statistics are impressive, frightening. And headlines back up these claims: riots, juvenile crime-increase, series of unsolved, gangland-style bombings and murders. But the 7,108 inmates in Michigan's penal institutions is the lowest number in 40 years. Why? Where are the lawbreakers the pólice catch and the courts convict? State Corrections Commissioner Gus Harrison cites a number of factors responsible for the decrease in the amount of men, women and youths confined in state institutions. "There seems to be a new spntpnrine nrartice now." to those who have been approved for parole, state agency experts counsel the practical side of life these men and women must face: family relations, employment situations, meeting with law enforcement officers, even planning the family budget. "This is a decompression period," Harrison explained. "Regulations of the prison are relaxed, visiting privileges extended, job interviews held and the parolees wear regular clothing." Vocational rehabilitation is carried on in the prisons and honor camps, and classroom sessions are also on the rise. "More and more Department of Corrections is becoming the Department of Education. We've tripled our education programs in the last year. We're dealing with 60 to 150 inmates, the convicts work at conservation, in state forests, on roads, building parks, benches, b o a t s, signs. They even opérate a saw-mill and plant tree seedlings. "There are about 800 inmates in our camps. Fully one-third qf the convicts do their timi side walls," he said, citing' ttífe' one-guard per work shift and lack of fences at the camps. On the question of young offenders, Harrison sees both bright and discouraging facts. "More and more our inmates admitted are becoming younger. It's hard to say why, but there does seem to be less respect for the law by many persons. Primarily, we get kids who are disadvantaged- a poor social background, poor parental supervisión, little or no contact with But the younger convict is not the repeater, evidently. "The encouraging thing for my department is that we seem to be doing a better job in our youth institutions: 84 per cent don't return to Cassidy Lake Technical School, and the Michigan training unit at Ionia has a high rate of success." , Strangely enough, the biygest group oí' parolees to be successful on the outside are murdcrerst Harrison said that less than oíffli per cent of those paroled ira; turn. The governor coramutes the Ufe sentences of between six and 12 murderers a year. ín 1959 the state cared for 10,000 inmates. Since then Harrison has closed down two farm barracks at Jackson, abandoned another, and closed off a cellblock at Marquette. "More and more, people are realizing that prison treatment is not always the answer to the handling of society's offenders. There are other ways, most better ways. And if there are ways oep them out of prison. ti methods should be employed.

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Ann Arbor News
Old News