[…]

St. Charles noted that in February 2009, corrections officials guaranteed a standing-room-only crowd at Township Hall that security would be the top priority in a then-planned-for change to move higher-security, mentally ill adult males to the neighboring Maxey Training School campus in the township. […]

He first said in April that the state was “reneging” on its security promise by ceasing around-the-clock armed patrols in vehicles on the prison’s grounds. […]

Effective April 1, Woodland and Michigan’s 25 other prisons with nonstop armed patrols shifted to random patrols and now rely more heavily on surveillance cameras, electrified fencing and high-efficiency lighting. […]

St. Charles said the current relationship between Woodland faculty and township officials, including first responders, will end once a private contractor takes over. He said private contractors, in general, don’t feel beholden to local units.

He said there is a “driving thought” in Lansing that the private sector can run state operations cheaper, a concept he said usually doesn’t prove true. He said privatization of prisons in other states has consistently resulted in higher operational rates, all of which are funded with tax dollars.

In the end, the per-prisoner, per-day cost is going to go up, he said.

“Somebody’s going to be paying for it,” he said.

“There is no state that has been successful with 100 percent privatization,” St. Charles added.