A Symposium for Policymakers and Stakeholders, March 17, 2011
On March 17, 2011, the Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending (CAPPS), the Citizens Research Council of Michigan and the Center for Michigan co-sponsored a public policy symposium entitled “Finding the Path to a $1.5 Billion Corrections Budget”. The Michigan Department of Corrections appropriation is currently $2 billion. It consumes nearly 25 percent of the overall General Fund budget. The purpose was to present attendees with a wealth of unbiased, non-partisan and factual information about how the MDOC appropriation is allocated, how it affects the overall state budget and what options exist for reducing it. The information was intended to serve as a foundation for forthcoming policy and budget discussions. The symposium included presentations from the co-sponsoring organizations, budget experts, the business community and stakeholder groups.