The Daily Reporter – WI Construction News & Bids Wisconsin's Construction Authority
MARENISCO TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Department of Corrections plans to close the Ojibway Correctional Facility in the western Upper Peninsula.
The Detroit Free Press and WLUC-TV report the director of the agency made that announcement on Tuesday to cut more than $19 million from the prison’s budget.
Lawmakers had instructed the department to close an unspecified prison.
Ojibway is in Gogebic County and originally opened as a prison camp in 1971. Chris Gautz, a MDOC spokesman, said the department has been closing units there recently and it’s now down to about 800 prisoners.
Gautz says the prison employs 203 people, including 116 corrections officers, and he said about 20 of the employees are Wisconsin residents.
The MDOC says there are no immediate plans for possible reuse of the prison.
