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A call for reason as program faces cut

A crowd of more than 300 people turned out for a rally at the Moose Lake Hockey Arena grounds Friday, Aug. 14 to support keeping the Willow River Challenge Incarceration Program in operation. The event came 11 days after the announcement of the closure of the Willow River and the Togo camps, which were prompted by a Department of Corrections budget deficit of $14 to $17 million and growing due to Covid-19-related expenses.

Since the announcement on Aug. 3, the DOC planned to relocate the two camp populations to a metro area prison. By Aug. 11, the plan had changed to have the program populatio...