Life Better at Youth Prison Since Privatization, Warden Says

BALDWIN — Officials at Michigan's only privately run prison for violent juvenile offenders told a state House committee in August that there are fewer problems at the facility now than when it opened a year earlier.

Michigan Youth Correctional Facility (MYCF) Warden David Trippett disputed reports in the Grand Rapids Press of overextended personnel and incidents of prisoners attacking prison officers, both of which incidents are becoming less frequent, Trippett said.

Marsha Foresman, an official with the state Department of Corrections, which oversees the MYCF contract with Wackenhut Corrections Corp., told lawmakers the prison has the most oversight of any Michigan prison. "I think you will find these prisoners are well-kept," she told the committee.