LANSING – State Representative Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard) today hosted an emergency town hall demanding that the state Department of Corrections reverse its decision to close the Camp Manistique correctional facility, a move that would eliminate 45 jobs and deliver an economic blow to the Upper Peninsula community.
"Camp Manistique provides good-paying jobs for our families," said McDowell, who helped lead a successful communitywide effort in 2005 to keep the Newberry Correctional Facility open. "It's vital that we protect every single job in our community, and I will continue to fight the Department of Corrections to reverse this unacceptable decision."
The town hall meeting was held Thursday at Schoolcraft County Courthouse.
In addition to job losses, a closure would take away the valuable services that inmates at Camp Manistique provide to local communities. The services of the low-security work camp are vital as local governments work with less and less money. The supervised work crews clean up the U.P. state fairgrounds, provide assistance at the Lake State Industries Rehab Center, do roadside cleanup for the Department of Natural Resources, and clean up parks and cemeteries. Without the work crews, U.P. communities will have to pay more to have this work done, or simply go without it.
"Working families across the U.P. are already struggling to make ends meet," said Jason Rochefort, the Michigan Corrections Organization's alternate steward at Camp Manistique. "By closing this facility, the state will make it harder for our dedicated workers to feed their families and pay their bills."