Standish Maximum Correctional Facility is becoming a magnet for controversy – and for political candidates.
On Wednesday, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard – also a Republican candidate for governor – showed up to add his voice to the debate.
Bouchard’s take: Keep the prison open – for Michigan prisoners.
Bouchard, who questioned why the prison is being closed, rallied against bringing Guantanamo detainees to Michigan “while we empty our prisons.”
“These folks will commit more crimes,” Bouchard said of the prisoners being released from the Standish facility and other Michigan prisons. “The bad guys ought to be staying in prison.”
Bouchard avoided commenting on whether or not he preferred bringing out-of-state prisoners or Guantanamo detainees into Standish.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and her administration are pursuing an option of leasing the prison to other states, to house their inmates. That idea took a blow this week when the state of California announced it is dropping consideration of housing its inmates in Standish.
“Its a false choice,” Bouchard said, adding that if he were governor, the prison would not have been slated for closure.
“We shouldn’t be focusing on what we’re going to do when it’s empty, we should focus on why we’re emptying it in the first place,” he said.
Standing next to Bouchard was Tom Kerrins, chief steward for the Michigan Correctional Organization. He said “too many prisoners” are being released.
“This prison was never meant to close down,” said Kerrins, who added that even though the prison population is decreasing, the crime rate is not.
On the subject of bringing Guantanamo detainees to Standish, Kerrins said he’d rather take prisoners from any state in the country over suspected terrorists from Guantanamo.
Kerrins said worries about having suspected terrorists inside the prison are not as great as worries over what would be outside the prison should the detainees be transferred. He said Standish would definitely become a target.
“They want to kill you, they want to kill me, they want to kill our families,” Kerrins said.
In June, Granholm announced that Standish was among three prisons and five prison camps that would close this year to help fill an estimated $120 million budget gap.
Paul Piche, who has worked as a corrections officer at the prison for 19 years, was among the disappointed by the announcement that California was dropping consideration of bringing prisoners to Standish.
“Everyone was let down,” said Piche, who was picketing across from the prison as he has done every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since Granholm made the closure announcement.
The political campaign focused on the prison’s fate continues at noon Thursday, with a rally planned at the Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church, 423 W. Cedar, to protest bringing Guantanamo detainees to Standish.
Scheduled to speak are U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, one of the most vocal opponents of bringing suspected terrorists to Michigan, along with Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles Burlingame III, pilot of the hijacked plane that was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, also has announced he is running for governor of Michigan in 2010. Another announced Republican candidate, state Sen. Tom George of Kalamazoo, has issued a statement urging the governor to consider all options, including housing Guantanamo detainees.
“The Standish prison is a maximum security facility with a record of no escapes,” George said in the press release. “There are legal precedents for housing federal inmates within Michigan, and it may be possible to negotiate a favorable intergovernmental agreement.”
The Bay City Times
Posted by Kathryn Lynch-Morin | August 19, 2009 15:15PM
