Federal officials tour a closed MidMichigan prison to possibly re-open it, but several issues are splitting the community about whether it's a good idea.
Marlene Reimer has lived across the street from the prison for 40-years. She fears big brother as a neighbor. Reimer says, "It does prey on our minds quite a bit, what the future holds. If they're going to take our homes or not, and that's a possibility."
Pat Caruso, director of the Michigan Department of Corrections, says "We know that there are a lot of rumors out there. We hope no one is listening to rumors, especially if they're from people that have no facts."
State officials say job number one is squashing those rumors. They say one of them is that Guantánamo Bay prisoners will be housed in Standish. They say, that's false. They also say, those living near the facility won't be forced out, but they do say, more prisoners than before could move in. Caruso says, "We ran this as a single cell, maximum security prison. It could easily be operated as a double celled medium security prison." Officials say that also would mean more jobs than before.
Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak says it's a win-win for the federal and state governments. Stupak says, "When you talk about our medium and maximum security, we're 50% over capacity. We need room. This is a great facility. We are hopeful that it will work out."
Susan Winslow, from Standish, supports the idea of selling the prison to the federal government. "We need the jobs. We need the economy here badly," Winslow says.
However, others say, Michigan paid for the facility and should always own it.
Paul Piche used to work at the Standish facility, but now works at the St. Louis prison. He's against federal control. "It doesn't belong to the feds. It should never belong to the feds. It should house and was built for Michigan prisoners," Piche said.
The next move is for federal officials to order an environmental assessment which would include studies for population, housing for employees, and quality of schools.
Local officials say, water rates went up 40% when the facility closed because of the reduction in consumption.
However, they say rates would not go down immediately if the prison is sold to the federal government.
