By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-846387.mp3
LANSING, MI – Governor Granholme is offering to lease prison space to California to help relieve a prison crowding crisis.
Two high-security facilities in Standish and Muskegon are among the prisons the state plans to close this summer. The state is reducing the number of people it incarcerates as part of Governor Granholm's plan to save money on corrections costs.
But the governor says one of the facilities, and many of its jobs might be saved if California leased cells and shipped prisoners to Michigan. The governor made the offer in a letter to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the two have apparently discussed the topic in a personal conversation. She says Michigan and California could set an example of interstate cooperation if they can strike a prison-sharing arrangement.
Schwarzenegger has shipped California inmates to other states before. There's no word on whether Granholm's offer is being seriously considered in Sacramento.