Mich. won't send inmates to privately run prison

10/3/2013

LANSING, Mich. — The state says it won’t transfer inmates to a privately run prison because two private companies that bid on the work submitted prices higher than what the Department of Corrections currently spends.

Kurt Weiss, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, tells the Detroit Free Press it costs the state about $12.9 million to house 968 prisoners that would be involved in the change and the lowest private bid was $18.6 million.

Weiss says companies were given the option to use the state’s Standish prison, which closed in 2009, or use a private prison anywhere in Michigan.

He says the lowest bid using Standish was $20.1 million in the first year and the lowest using a private prison was $18.6 million in the first year.