Hundreds rally to save a MidMichigan prison. The Standish Maximum Correctional Facility is slated to close, along with 7 others across the state. Along city streets, children hold signs by the road reading: "save my daddy's job."

It's the theme across Arenac County where the local prison is scheduled to close this year. Christine Bowerson, the wife of a prison worker, says "We're just kind of waiting to see where my husband is moving to if he has a job when it's all said and done." Christine Bowerson and her husband have 8 children to support. "It's going to devastate the community. There's just so many businesses that are supported by the people that work at the prison, the housing, everything's going to be affected."

Residents say, the closing of the Standish Correctional Facility isn't just an economic issue, they say it's a safety issue, allowing non-violent offenders out on the streets. Paul Piche, who works at the prison, says "They're non-violent because they didn't have a gun with they raped the girl. The guy that broke into your home when you were hard at work and stole all our property, he's non-violent." Piche says Governor Granholm broke her promise. "Governor, you took an oath of office, that oath was to protect the people of the State of Michigan. Letting 10,000 inmates out is not following the oath."

Inside Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church, speakers preach to the choir. They say out of Arenac County's 17,000 residents, more than 7,500 have signed a petition to keep the prison open. Father James Fitzpatrick, the Pastor of Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church, says "I think that will get the governor's attention. I hope so."

The crowd booed and criticized Governor Granholm for not showing up to the rally to explain why she made the decision. She was in Kalamazoo with Vice President Joe Biden for the ground-breaking of an expansion of I-94.

Congressman Democrat Bart Stupak wrote the following statement to the governor. In a written statement, he says "…the proposed closures will do more harm than good both to our economy and our state's criminal justice system."

Megan Brown, a spokeswoman for the governor says, "We've said that protecting the public's safety is the governor's top priority and this plan does that while bringing some important savings to the state."