Michigan spends $2 billion annually on its prison system. That’s slightly more than one-fifth of the state’s general fund, according to a 2012 House Fiscal Agency report. In order to whittle down the size of the prison system’s financial burden, Michigan lawmakers have been looking at private companies to provide services.
On today's Current State: Local efforts for immigration reform, Michigan prison breakouts, a musical celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the hometown competitors in this weekend's U.S. National Figure Skating Championships.
A private company that a federal investigation found allowed "a cesspool" of conditions to exist at a Mississippi youth prison could be in line to oversee Michigan inmates.
