About 1,600 state prisoners in the Upper Peninsula will be moving from an aging prison location to two newer facilities by the end of October.
The Michigan Department of Corrections has decided to close the aging Kinross Correctional Facility, the site of a former Air Force base, and transfer 1,280 inmates to the Hiawatha Correctional Facility.
The other 320 inmates will be moving to the Chippewa Correctional Facility.
The Hiawatha Facility is being reopened after six years following renovations, while the Chippewa Correctional Facility has added about 300 beds and 23 employees to accommodate the move.
All three prisons are located in Kincheloe, in Chippewa County in the eastern U.P., so the prisoners will only have about 1 mile to move.