A rustic tourist cabin is bound for the Port Crescent State Park in Port Austin thanks to a Michigan Department of Corrections partnership between vocational education's Prison Build Program and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). After approximately 18 months of discussions with DNR, the first cabin was completed for the state park.

Six inmates from the Saginaw Correctional Facility (SRF) worked under the direction of Jack Adam in the facility's prison build program with assistance from  administrative assistant Ed Rosek to complete the building.

"We hope that this is the first of many cabins to be built in this program," said Warden Blaine Lafler. "Projects like this benefit everyone in the state as well as give our inmates a chance to learn a skill."

The facility and the department's Prison Build Program will soon be looking at the possibility of working with the Department of Agriculture to build homes for the state's migrant workers.

Michigan Department of Corrections FYI 11-10-04