The state won’t move about a thousand inmates to a privately run prison in northern Michigan.
The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta tells us the state turned down two bids submitted by for-profit corrections companies.
The Florida-based GEO Group already owns an empty prison in the town of Baldwin. It offered that property as a place to house inmates, but the asking price was too much. The Utah-based Management and Training Corporation also submitted a bid. Both contracts would have cost taxpayers more than they’re paying now.
The state was required to seek bids under a law signed in January by Governor Rick Snyder.
Unions and inmate advocates say privately run prisons are not a bargain and are less safe for inmates, staff and visitors.
The Snyder administration is going ahead with plans to privatize prison food services. Budget officials say that changeover should be completed by early December.