Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says the state should save money in the corrections budget by cutting the costs of incarceration - not by closing more prisons or releasing more inmates.
Schuette says he hopes that's the strategy Governor Rick Snyder will display when he unveils his budget proposal on Thursday.
Schuette says he advised the governor to focus on reducing the cost-per-inmate by bidding out more prison services:
"What I've tried to discuss with him and others is that in this incarceration pipeline, in terms of the prison system, what we need to do is drive down cost on the intake side of the incarceration pipeline."
Both Schuette and Snyder are Republicans.
Schuette says if the two of them have a policy difference, they will find a way to work it out.
Republicans battled with Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm on her plans to reduce corrections costs by paroling more inmates and closing prisons.
