Both chambers of the Republican-controlled Michigan legislature are pushing to privatize that state’s prisons. Like a similar bill introduced by Florida Republicans that was narrowly defeated, the Michigan bill would require shifting 1200 inmates to a private prison if 10 percent savings would be gained. The Detroit Free Press published an Opinion piece by Michigan state Senator Bert Johnson offers five good reasons why savings are both phantom and ephemeral and transferring incarceration to private, profit corporations has both security and political implications.
