LANSING – State Representative Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem) has introduced legislation (House Bill 4130) to save the state millions of dollars by transferring certain prisoners who have deportation orders to federal custody. Under current Michigan law, prisoners who are awaiting federal deportation must serve their full sentence in a Michigan prison before being deported.
Currently, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) estimates that 500 prisoners have federal deportation orders.
"Public safety is our number one priority," Smith said. "This bill protects Michigan families and has the potential to save up to nine million dollars in our overextended corrections budget. Michigan taxpayers should not be paying to house, feed and provide health care to prisoners who can be immediately deported to their own countries."
The bill includes many safeguards to assure public safety. Prisoners may only be transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if the MDOC receives an order of deportation from the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service and they have served at least half of their sentence. Prisoners convicted of first- or second-degree homicide or criminal sexual conduct would not be eligible for transfer. Prisoners who are deported and return to the United States illegally would be re-incarcerated and ordered to serve their entire sentence.
This legislation is modeled after successful programs in New York and Arizona that have produced significant savings. New York reports savings of $140.6 million in the 12 years from 1995 to 2007 and Arizona has saved $13.3 million between 2005 and 2007.
"The bottom line is that in these tough economic times especially we must be smart on crime," Smith said, "For too long Michigan has adopted a 'lock 'em up and throw away the key' approach which is simply not practical. We need fundamental changes to our corrections system that assure the public's safety and cost-effective use of our tax dollars. This bill does both."