Petoskey News
ANSING, Mich. — An increasing number of former Michigan convicts are killing people after getting out of prison, a problem that the state Department of Corrections and its employees union blame on each other, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Statewide, 88 probationers or parolees committed 95 homicides from January 2010 through Aug. 31, 2012, according to a review by the Detroit Free Press. Ex-cons under state supervision killed 21 people in 2010, 38 in 2012 and 36 in the first eight months of 2012, the report found.
Michigan has cut corrections spending under budget pressures. It operates 31 prisons, employs 15,000 people and has a $2 billion annual budget. About 51,000 people are on probation and 18,000 on parole in Michigan.
The Corrections Department has started monthly audits on caseloads of probation agents and has taken other steps to reduce crimes by people on parole or probation, said department Director Daniel Heyns. He said it is too soon to tell what the efforts have accomplished.
Full story: Report: More ex-cons killing after leaving prison