Michigan profile   

64,000 people from Michigan are behind bars today

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Michigan graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, Michigan’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

See also our detailed graphs about Whites and Blacks in Michigan prisons and jails.

Michigan's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

Our other articles about Michigan

• Detroit Pistons owner about to squeeze fans in a new way, buying Securus, by Wendy Sawyer, May 18, 2017
• Letter: Ionia County postcard-only jail mail policy should be canceled, by Peter Wagner, September 28, 2014
• Michigan ACLU uses our map, testifies against harmful loitering bill, by Peter Wagner, October 17, 2013
• Michigan spares most counties and municipalities from prison-based gerrymandering, by Andrew Stecker and Aleks Kajstura, September 26, 2011
• Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census: Michigan, from Prison Policy Initiative's Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census: A 50 state guide
• Counting Convicts: Do it here or there?, Jackson City Patriot editorial, February 9, 2006

Other resources

• Research on Michigan in our Research Library