Letter to the Editor: Hager’s and Breitbach’s votes have consequences
To the Editor:
The Luster Heights facility is now closed just two weeks after State House Representative Kristi Hager and State Senator Michael Breitbach cast their votes for a budget which cut $5.5 million from the Department of Corrections. Their votes have had negative ramifications for Allamakee County, those employed at Luster Heights, the inmates, and the taxpayers.
The many ways the Luster Heights inmates benefited the county were underscored at a recent Board of Supervisors meeting. Since the 1990s, Luster Heights inmates worked 200 days a year on secondary road maintenance for a nominal fee of $5 per day. This saved the taxpayer a great deal of money. The work the inmates did at the Waukon City Park was described as the benefits far outweighing the costs.
Luster Heights has had work agreements with Lansing, Harpers Ferry, Eastern Allamakee Community School District, Allamakee County Conservation and the DNR. This had allowed offenders to work on a daily basis taking part in many projects that benefited the public. In turn it benefited the inmates by giving them a sense of pride and accomplishment.
The inmates had participated in community service projects as a way to give back. They built furniture and other projects for fundraisers for the St. Patrick’s School. Wexford Church benefited from their landscape work, and St. Ann’s Parish in Harpers Ferry received a nativity scene. Inmates built bookshelves for local libraries, and they built quilt racks and refurbished the display cases for the Allamakee County Fair. Ducks Unlimited was the recipient of wood duck houses built by those from Luster Heights. The inmates had germinated seeds and grew plants for the Allamakee County Master Gardeners.
The estimated value of the work agreements and community service projects was close to $240,000 each year. This lowered the costs and burden on the local taxpayer while at the same time helped to create positive outcomes for inmates as they served their sentences by doing something productive.
The inmates were nonviolent offenders, many of whom had alcohol and drug addiction problems. The staff at Luster Heights provided invaluable treatment. The result was that Luster Heights had the lowest recidivism rate in the state. The cost to house and treat the inmates was also the lowest in the state.
Of concern is what will happen to the employees. These employees and their families have had their lives disrupted and their futures are uncertain. Will they be able to find other employment? Will they have to move to another county for a job?
Representative Hager said she was stunned to learn that Luster Heights closed. She should not have been stunned. When Kristi Hager, Michael Breitbach and all of their fellow Republican legislators voted to cut the Department of Corrections’ budget by $5.5 million dollars, the Department of Corrections’ only recourse was to close minimum security facilities like Luster Heights and to lay off workers.
Budget cuts may look good on paper, but the reality is that this 2017 Budget and these cuts have harmful and negative consequences for the people and the communities Rep. Kristi Hager and Senator Michael Breitbach are supposed to be representing.
Karen Pratte
Waterville
