Russ Marlan

The Michigan Department of Corrections says a deal to house prisoners from Pennsylvania will net the state nearly three quarters of a million dollars in revenue.
The Muskegon Chronicle reports on comments from MDOC spokesman Russ Marlan:

LANSING — A Michigan Department of Corrections official has confirmed that the department is in the first stages of making a change to a controversial policy barring HIV-positive prisoners from working in food service jobs.

LANSING — A policy that bars HIV-positive inmates in Michigan prisons from working in food service jobs does not violate state law, according to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. But though the policy may be legal, one leader in the Michigan Department of Corrections says he wants to change the policy.

A Department of Corrections spokesman says a policy barring HIV-positive prisoners from working in food service is in place to prevent transmission through food. But experts say there is no scientific basis for those fears and the Department of Civil Rights is launching a formal investigation into the state policy.