Corriveau: ‘It’s going to take guts’ to cut state’s corrections budget

PLYMOUTH — Cutting Michigan’s corrections budget is needed to close the state’s budget deficit, but it will also cause a backlash when an ex-convict inevitably kills or hurts someone.

That blunt assessment came from State Rep. Marc Corriveau (D-Northville) during a town hall meeting with about 20 residents at the Plymouth Coffee Bean Monday. Corriveau said trimming the corrections budget is one way legislators can close the expected $1.4 billion budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has requested $2 billion for the Michigan Department of Corrections next year, $120 million less than the department received last year, or the largest cut to any part of state government in the proposed 2010 budget.

But legislators who vote to cut the corrections budget or reform the prison system fear a public backlash if a prisoner is released and commits another crime, Corriveau said.

“There will be someone, under corrections reform, that gets let out and he’ll go kill somebody that we love, or he’ll kill a mom or he’ll go kill a daughter. We know that’s going to happen,” he said. “When you accept that as a politician that what you do, someone is going to die for it, that it’s just going to happen, you can see the fear that that political campaign is going to cause you. That’s why it’s going to take guts because the reality of it is that we can’t avoid that from happening, yet do we continue to spend all of this money for no real benefit in the long term?”

Corriveau elaborated by saying many prisoners aren’t serving life sentences, they’re released and commit crimes now. He cited a report from the non-partisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan showing that despite the state’s higher per-capita incarceration rate than neighboring states, Michigan doesn’t have one of the lowest crime rates. In fact, Michigan is one of the most crime-laden states in the region. This imbalance shows money needs to be used more effectively to reduce incarceration and crime, Corriveau said.

“We’re spending a tremendous amount of money in corrections, but not in the right way,” he said.

Corriveau said one way to cut the budget without compromising public safety is to tell the parole department to quit frequently adding extra time onto court-ordered sentences. These are stopgaps that only delay when convicts are released, but do not make them less likely to commit crimes once they’re back in public, he said. In addition, Corriveau said the state should use more mental health, drug and sobriety courts, as well as treatments for people brought before them.

Corriveau, who chairs the House Health Policy Committee, represents the 20th State House District, which includes parts of Northville, Northville Township, Plymouth Township, Plymouth, a sliver of Canton Township and the city of Wayne.