Report: Public At Risk If Prisoners Released

LANSING (AP) - Republican lawmakers released a report Tuesday saying the public will be put at risk if the state releases thousands of parole-eligible inmates from Michigan prisons.

The state Department of Corrections instead should continue and expand efforts to keep ex-inmates from returning to prison, according to the GOP endorsed report.

The report also recommends a serious look at creating special courts for the mentally ill and the expansion of drug treatment courts to handle some parole violators.

The recommendations were released by a panel that Republicans created after the state announced budget-saving plans to parole more prisoners and close a Jackson prison.

Democrats welcomed some suggestions but also criticized the GOP for blasting plans by Governor Granholm to parole prisoners.