By JEN IFER VAN CORE
c.
C IDY LAKE T chnical
School, a 360-bed facility, is th
state' only boot camp and is lo
cated in Washtenaw County
northw t of Chelsea It costs
an average of 22,000 to house a
convict in prison, while it costs
about 15,000 for someone to go
through the boot camp system,
said Warren Williams, a pok
man for the Department of Cor-
C UB Mason
County near Ludington, was the
first boot camp open and th
first cl ed in March of 1992.
Camp Manistique, in School
craft County was closed in June.
The two were converted to regu
lar prison use when it became
more effective to ha th entire
boot camp operation at the
newer, more centralized Cassidy
Lake location, Curtis said.
While boot camp programs
are not for every offender, they
I
.. Stat £I ,\'eu's
you n
T E OGR
work, ho v r, if partieipan
are given proper follow-up guid
ance, said Michigan State U ni
versity criminal ju tice
Professor Bob Trojanowicz.
"Boot camps can be effective if
support rvi , like help with
Repre entative David Point (D-Highland Park) wa joined by his pecial gue t (I-r), Dr.
Deborah McGriff, Detroit Public School Superintendent; Dr. Eugene Cain, Highland Park
Superintendent of Schools; and Dr. John Radwanski, Superintendent of Hamtr�m�k Scho�1
for Governor Engler's addre before the joint es ion on October 5. Thl I the fir t
opportunity the three uperintendents who repre ent the diverse Sixth District have come
together.
•
lay
00
Representative Davi� S.
Points (D-Highland Park) said he
and his Democratic colleagues.
will oppose any reform proposal
by Governor Engler that does not
fully fund education in Michigan
and replace the revenue lost with
the elimination of property taxes
as the primary source of funding
. for public education. .
In addition, Rep. Points said,
House Democrats said they sup
port tablishing higher tand
ards for a core curriculum
through a formal council of ex
perts, identifying n .. employ
ability skills, devising a new
means of ing performance
of students and providing new ac
creditation standards for all
schools as ntial components
for public education in Michigan.
Rep. Points lso accused th
governor of playing a she.ll �me
with his proposal to eliminate
revenue sharing, which will m n
that local goy rnments �ill
forced to rai tax ·to �roVld t?e
me servi , including pohce
and fire pro ion, ha h y pro-
vid today.
a 0 indi-
(
do
OmBell(PTegnantorBrea8Ue�)
By JENNIFER VAN DOREN
c. ft.' New. Service
LAN G - With prisons bulging, courts
overflowing with and s suffocating
with crime, th problem of soaring corrections
are cl r.
The solutions, however, are not as easily
en.
One uch option that h n in use in th
ta sin 1986 is electronic monitoring-te h
ering - of paroled convicts in efforts to keep
clo e tabs on their actions and to enforce cur
fews.
Michigan has the largest tethering pro�
in the nation, said Department of Corrections
Director Kenneth McGinni , who added that
tethering is an excellent option, but shouldn't
be overused.
Roughly 2,800 people are currently on tether
programs, said Dick Irrer, the new-program
manager at th Michigan Department of Cor
rections. To date more than 10,000 have gone
through the program, which usually lasts about
four months.
"WE'RE LOOKING for a better way to do
things - a ch per way to have more control
over a select group of offenders," Irrersaid. "Not
everyone needs to be in a maximum-security
prison. It doesn't make sense to keep someone
locked up for $22,000 year who is a minor
offender."
expected school reforms and how
each district is affected.
their d ire to push for th
strength ning of local d ision
making and parental account
ability as of Public Act 25, a
hool reform act passed in 1990.
their istance to choice op-
tions and charter hools as "gim
micky" po that have no
evidence of improving student
performan , only pn:>viding . .
lective nefi to ehte partici-
pan .
• th ir p f for m-
pletely legislativ financial �Iu
tion with ible voter op IOns,
to "extortion" styl
which fo YO rs to In-
th ir sch
payers.
in orm I . u
by h
c
ter
to hom devise connected to th
Irrer said. At a random time intervals, t
vi <is out signals nd ift pe n .
home hen th y a upposed to be,
off.
The ystem also if tb person tri to
take th transmitter off, tri to unplug t
home device or disoonn the phon hookup.
The units cost 1,350 ch, Irrer . d.
From 30 to 40 percent of boot camp partici
pants go on tether programs after graduation,
id Michael Steeley, th probation upervisor
with the state boot camp program. .
Participants pay to us th devi , depend
ing on how much they can afford and h her
they are attending school, Irrer said. They can
also perform community ervice in lieu. o� pay
ments, which average about 3 per participant,
he said.
THE REASO THERE is a tether pro
gram, while it may not always be popular in the
public eye, is that there seem to be no ho�.
of criminals coming into the ystem, McGtnrus
said. Where the complexity begins is what hap
pens to people once they arrive into t eorreo
tions system.
"I a 22,000 price what you want to pay to
put away a hoplifter or someone who wri a
bad check,· said McGinnis. "Our position is that
there are cheaper ways to deal with tb pe0-
ple."
and
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