The state is naming part of I-94 in Jackson County after two corrections officers who were killed in the line of duty in 1987. Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill Tuesday naming the stretch of I-94 between exits 139 and 141 the "Corrections Officers Jack Budd and Josephine McCallum Memorial Highway."
Josephine McCallum was a rookie officer when she was raped and strangled in an auditorium stairwell on March 24, 1987. Her attacker was serving time for kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct and armed robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison for her murder. Jack Budd was stabbed to death with a sharpened mop-bucket handle on December 27, 1987. His attacker had just broken away from another officer who was escorting him to the shower room. He stabbed Budd as he ran through the cell block. Budd helped subdue the man and was then taken to a hospital where he died an hour later. His attacker was sentenced to life in prison.
McCallum's and Budd's deaths led to changes within the Michigan Department of Corrections. Officers started getting advanced training, staffing levels were increased and inmate discipline procedures were revised. The state also broke up the Jackson Central Complex in several smaller prisons.
Governor Snyder released a statement saying, “This legislation is a positive way to honor Officers Budd’s and McCallum’s service and commitment to the Michigan Department of Corrections."
