MARENISCO — Michigan Auditor General Doug Ringler has agreed to review the state Department of Corrections’ decision to close the Ojibway Correctional Facility in Marenisco, said state Rep. Scott Dianda, D-Calumet.

“I want to thank Auditor General Ringler for his quick response to my request and for agreeing to conduct an audit to determine if documentation exists to support MDOC’s decision to close Ojibway Correctional Facility,” Dianda said in a statement Friday. “We know that closing Ojibway could result in Gogebic County losing more than $700,000 in state school aid, the local hospital losing more than $1 million in broken contracts, and corrections workers being forced to drive more than 200 miles a day to work in the nearest correctional facility if they can even transfer there.

“No one understands how MDOC could consider the economic impact, as required by the state budget, and still decide to close this facility. With the livelihood of hundreds of U.P. families hanging in the balance, I am glad that we will now have another audit to determine if MDOC is following the rules concerning prison closure decisions,” Dianda said.