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Media coverage of recent deaths at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV) have intensified concerns about systemic problems across Michigan prisons. MI-CEMI and coalition partners are identifying short-, medium-, and long-term actions to improve safety, transparency, healthcare access, and accountability across the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC).
No single action can address the confluence of factors that create the current crisis, but decarceration is a vital first step. Michigan cannot safely and humanely house our current prison population. Tell Governor Whitmer to use her executive clemency power to safely reduce Michigan’s prison population and read below for additional ways to address the current crisis.Take Action
What Needs to Happen
MI-CEMI has been working with patterns to identify short, medium, and long-term actions. We are still building consensus on final goals, but here are some of the actions that have emerged.
- Short-Term Priorities: Reduce overcrowding, improve healthcare access, and establish trusted mold testing and remediation processes at WHV.
- Medium-Term Priorities: Strengthen independent oversight of MDOC, pass Survivor Justice legislation, and prioritize leadership focused on rehabilitation and decarceration.
- Long-Term Priorities: Advance resentencing legislation and reduce excessive prison sentences that contribute to overcrowding and unsafe conditions.
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What Does Supporting Programming Look Like?
Providers across Michigan spend enormous time navigating barriers to meaningful prison programming: staffing shortages, inconsistent access, communication gaps, policy limitations, volunteer burnout, funding instability, and uneven opportunities between facilities.But what if we stepped back from the day-to-day barriers and asked a larger question? If Michigan truly prioritized rehabilitation, healing, growth, and transformation — what would programming actually look like?
(more…)Thursday, June 18, 2026
12:00–1:30 PM ET
Virtual on Zoom
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Employment is one of the most critical components of successful reentry, but access is not equal. Too often, those leaving prison face stigma, policy barriers, and a lack of support when trying to find meaningful work.
MI-CEMI’s Reentry Table, Employment Opportunities & Pathways to Work, brought together advocates, workforce development leaders, and community members for a virtual conversation focused on employment barriers, workforce development, and real solutions that help people rebuild their lives.
Watch the full conversation below.
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The Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration (MI-CEMI) opposes construction of new prisons, jails, or immigration detention facilities in the state of Michigan and the reopening of shuttered prison facilities for incarceration or immigration detention. MI-CEMI supports efforts to improve conditions of confinement at prisons and detention facilities and prioritizes efforts to reduce the number of people detained or incarcerated as a key driver for improvements to conditions.
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The state of Michigan is incarcerating far more people than is necessary and reasonable. -
Earlier this month, MI-CEMI’s Program Coordinator, Michael Taylor, returned to prison for the first time since coming home, joining the Reentry United event at Carson City Correctional Facility.
What began as a surreal experience quickly became a powerful reminder of the importance of hope, connection, and the fight to bring people home. Reuniting with men who shaped his journey and witnessing the impact of his story on those still inside renewed his determination to keep doing this work.
In Michael’s own words:
Going back into prison was an experience I’m still processing.
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