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Candidates and election info for Washtenaw County, Michigan

Feb 22, 2005 - Washtenaw County Elections
Town Hall debate - Jan 24, 2005

Comments by County Administrator Bob Guenzel and a PDF file, "Administrator�s Recommendations on Public Safety and Justice" �Public Safety and Justice Millage� - should we raise taxes to build a new prison?

Download: "The Washtenaw County Proposal for Jail Expansion," Rosemary C. Sarri, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

The U.S. has been on an �incarceration binge � since the early 1980s as if it is a solution to the problems of crime and a variety of forms of deviance, especially substance abuse and mental health.
We have dismantled much of the mental health system for poor and disadvantaged populations and substituted the criminal justice systems.
With respect to Michigan we incarcerate higher proportions of our population that do many of our sister states � Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Who do we incarcerate? Primarily males: the poor and persons of color. Persons of color are incarcerated 8x �s the rate of whites according to Bonczar of NIJ. This is one of the major problems in the US � we have a �color blind � racism. Both of the reports and the county proposal that I was able to examine, even briefly, made no mention of race as if it is not an issue to be considered.

Washtenaw County Jail tax info from a Google cache of the Ann Arbor News (mlive.com):

Levy asked: 0.75 mill.
How long: 20 years.
Purpose: $48 million jail expansion. Rest of the $314 million generated by the tax during the next 20 years would build a new District Court facility and pay for jail operations including mental health service and other rehabilitation programs.
Added to tax bill: $75 per year on a $200,000 home with $100,000 taxable value.
Revenue: $9.6 million in 2005; more than $314 million through 2025.
Prior building levy tries: 2000 (courthouse plan defeated), 1998 (jail levy defeated)

Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce position on jail tax