(Indianapolis, IN) - On Friday plans to shut down the prison in Michigan City were hashed out downstate.
Members of the Indiana Department of Corrections met with the State Budget Committee to pitch the idea of consolidating the prison in Michigan City with new facilities about to begin construction in Westville.
IDOC Commissioner Christina Reagle explained the cost savings to legislators. “It’s outdated, like Westville is,” she said, “and it doesn’t come without emergency repairs on an annual basis, totaling about one to two million dollars a year. We have more than $380 million in planned capital at that site, and the annual operating is approximately $45 million.” Reagle said the savings of annual operating costs alone would pay off within twenty years, in addition to $400 million saved by not making needed improvements at the antiquated Michigan City facility.
She said the decision took into account not only the State Prison’s poor condition, but declining or static prison population numbers statewide. The number of prisoners at Westville has been declining, Reagle said, due to policy changes that shorten inmates’ time there. By reshuffling some inmates, the populations of both prisons will be able to fit at Westville, where the new facilities will be built to maximum security specifications.
Budget Committee Chairman Jeff Thompson toured the State Prison recently and said he agreed with the proposal. “Once I got behind the scenes, up in the State Prison,” he said, “and saw with my own eyes what the structure looked like—150 or 160 years old—it convinced me [consolidation] was the thing to do.”
The Department of Corrections initially sought $400 million for the Westville project in 2021, then added another $800 million this year. Part of the increase was caused by inflation, and part owed to an expansion of the project’s scope. The plan is for a new 1.4 million-square-foot, 4,200-bed facility right next to the current one in Westville. Reagle said the IDOC got the idea of consolidating the prisons sometime during the legislative process this summer.
There was some pushback from committee members. Representative Ed Delaney seemed to suggest a bait-and-switch had taken place, when the monetary request went from $400 million to $1.2 billion. “I was on the Ways and Means Committee," he said, "and I don’t remember being advised that we were suddenly talking about two prisons rather than one prison. When did this conversation change?” Thompson interjected that, during the legislative process, he pushed to have the language of the appropriation bill broadened from a Westville-only project to something that could include consolidation.
As surprised as some legislators seemed by the request, Commissioner Reagle noted, “This isn’t a new topic by any means. The closing of the Indiana State Prison is something that the locals have been pushing for a long time.” Reagle told the committee that her department has consulted with local constituents. “Actually, when we made this decision,” she said, “I cancelled a vacation and went up and talked with all the staff at the State Prison on their Family Day and let them know.”
416 people are currently employed by the prison. One of the key factors in the decision, Reagle said, was the short 15-mile distance between the two facilities. IDOC does not anticipate any lost jobs in the switch.
The State Prison in Michigan City was built the year before Abraham Lincoln became President. It will remain open for another few years while the new facility in Westville is under construction.
