Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
CRYSTAL SUZIK addresses the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners Wednesday about the closing of the Ojibway Correctional Facility at Marenisco. From left are commissioners Dan Siirila, Jim Oliver and Jeff Wasley.
By RALPH ANSAMI
Bessemer - It appears the Ojibway Correctional Facility in Marenisco won't go down without a fight.
Around 100 people, including many Ojibway employees and their families, appeared at a Gogebic County Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday to discuss the planned Dec. 1 closing of the facility, even though it wasn't on the agenda.
Joining them was Ed McBroom, the former state representative who is seeking the state Senate seat held by Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba.
The public comment session began with Crystal Suzik, a strong proponent of keeping the prison open, proposing filing for an injunction to stop the closure, although she said the state Department of Corrections has already begun moving prisoners from the facility.
McBroom told the circuit courtroom overflow audience the DOC is required to undertake an analysis of the economic ramifications of closing the prison, but there has not been enough time elapsed since the announcement last week to do so.
"Let's see their proof," he said.
McBroom said closing the prison would place an even greater burden on the county jail, which has been overflowing with inmates for the past several years.
Gogebic County Prosecuting Attorney Nick Jacobs, who said he has been "a steadier supplier of inmates to the prison," said he couldn't handle a lawsuit against the state on his own.
"It's beyond my ability," he said, but added the lack of the state completing an analysis could be challenged.
"Our county is not budgeted for this type of litigation," he warned, noting it would be costly. Jacobs acknowledged the DOC budget had been shrunk, "pulling the rug from under us."
County board member Joe Bonovetz, of Bessemer, said the excuse for closing the prison that loved ones couldn't be near their relatives didn't make much sense.
"Keep the Yooper prisoners at Ojibway," where they could be visited by relatives, he suggested.
County board member Dan Siirila, of Ironwood, echoed a previous statement made by county board chair George Peterson, of Watersmeet, that a Gogebic County delegation of about 13 people was preparing to head downstate to support Ojibway when the closing was announced. "We didn't have a chance to do what we were supposed to do," he said, later referring to the action as a "kick in the (gonads)."
Jacobs advised the gathering to determine what information McBroom obtains before determining whether legal action would be worth pursuing.
McBroom noted the western Upper Peninsula lacks political clout. "We're a very small fish in the pond," he said.
Bonovetz said the 15 U.P. counties vowed to unify for the cause, but there are 84 counties in the state.
The closure of Ojibway leaves U.P. prisons in Baraga, Marquette, Munising, Newberry and Kinross and follows closures in Iron River, Manistique, Shingleton, Painesdale and Kincheloe.
"We will do everything we can," Peterson pledged.
There will be a gathering of people protesting the closure of the prison Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the old Kmart lot on U.S. 2 in Ironwood.
McBroom previously said the 2019 budget, passed in June, called for the closure of a prison in the state, but it was unknown until this month which facility it would be. He said State Sen. John Proos, of southwest Michigan, chairs the Corrections Appropriations committee in the Senate and pushed hard for the Ojibway closure during debate, citing significant reductions to state prison populations over the last eight years.
"We know the reduction in population has more to do with fudging recidivism numbers and sending more prisoners to our county jails than with an actual reduction in incarcerations. This does nothing more than shift the cost from the state to our counties, who cannot afford that shift," McBroom said in a statement last week.
He contends costs of running Ojibway are not being fairly compared to other facilities because the state is putting undo emphasis on distance, rather than taking into account the relatively young age of the facility, security of the location, and proximity to other state facilities.
"Most of all, it is a state-run, typical myopic way of budgeting that ignores the net costs to the state by foisting such a dramatic hurt on a small, already hurting community," he said.
