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MUNISING -- Tuesday, Upper Michigan's Source reported that Alger Max corrections officers took to the picket lines over safety issues at the prison.  They say there are now too many prisoners and not enough guards, and they're concerned that budget issues are threatening their own safety.

Wednesday, Munising Mayor Rod DesJardins and Alger County Sheriff David Cromell shared their thoughts on the pickets.

"At first we were being told that Alger Max was going to be shut down, which would have been devastating for this community to lose that many jobs.  And then we were relieved when we found out that the prison not only was going to be kept open, that it was going to have an increase in the number of inmates, which we assumed at the time would mean an increase in the number of corrections officers," explained the mayor.

But that's just not so.  In fact, when more than 300 inmates transferred to Alger Max following the closure of Camp Cusino due to budget cuts, just two additional corrections officers came to the prison.

"The Department of Corrections has to increase staffing to ensure that the corrections officers who work there are safe and that those inmates are secure," said Mayor DesJardins.

So far, the only violence that's taken place has been on prison grounds.  We learned yesterday that there's been a rape at the prison, weapons have been appearing, and inmate-on-inmate assaults have taken place.  Should the surrounding Alger County communities have anything to worry about?

"You know, with the prison being in our locale, there's always the idea in the back of your mind.  There's precautions that the citizens really should be taking.  I don't see an immediate threat right now.  We work closely with the prison officials, and they have a very competent emergency response team," said Alger County Sheriff David Cromell.

The Mayor refutes:  "If you double-up a prison population and you don't increase the number of guards, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out there's going to be trouble."