DATE: 4 p.m., March 29, 2010.

EVENT: The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy will host a panel about the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative, the politics of the initiative within the Michigan legislature, and the effect of public criticism on its future.

MPRI is an effort to improve public safety by reducing the likelihood that prisoners returning to communities will commit crimes. MPRI is entering its seventh year of development and implementation.

Panelists include Patricia L. Caruso, director of the Michigan Department of Corrections; Peter Luke, Lansing correspondent for Booth Newspapers; John Proos, State representative (R-St. Joseph), minority vice-chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections; and Alma Wheeler Smith, State representative (D-Salem Township), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections. The moderator is Jeffrey Padden, president of Public Policy Associates, Inc.

The event is free and open to the public.

PLACE: Annenberg Auditorium, 1120 Weill Hall, 735 South State Street. Central Campus map: http://www.umich.edu/~info/mapsAndDirections.html#anchor_centralCampus

SPONSORS: Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.