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Michigan has an incarceration rate of 599 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Michigan and why.

Jump to COVID-19 data.

64,000 people from Michigan are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Michigan is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 163,000 different people are booked into local jails in Michigan.

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

Data on COVID-19 in Michigan jails and prisons

We gave Michigan a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• Michigan released fewer people on parole in 2020 than they had in 2019, and approved a smaller percent of parole applications.
• Michigan failed to utilize one of the most obvious, and easiest, tools for reducing the prison population — stopping prison admissions for technical violations of probation and parole (which are not crimes).

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency. Or check out these other resources:

• Our Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic page tracks criminal justice policy responses to the coronavirus all 50 states
• As of late April, only 11% of corrections staff in Michigan prisons had gotten the COVID-19 vaccine
• Michigan is one of only a handful of states that never released details about its plan to vaccinate incarcerated people
• Michigan released fewer people on parole in 2020 than in 2019
• How crowded are Michigan prisons, as of December 2020?
• How many COVID-19 cases in Michigan communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)
• We're tracking Michigan's medical copay policies in prisons during the pandemic

Our other articles about Michigan

• Otsego County: A cautionary tale for counties considering a big, costly new jail
• Michigan hurts jury diversity by excluding people with felony records
• How much do incarcerated people in Michigan earn for their work in prison?
• Michigan prisons charge a $5 copay to incarcerated people, putting health at risk
• New data: Low incomes - but high fees - for people on probation in Michigan
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Michigan gets a C-
• Michigan has some of the highest jail phone rates in the country (See also our detailed explanation of jail phone contracts in Michigan in our report State of Phone Justice)
• Detroit Pistons owner squeezes fans in a new way, buying prison phone company Securus
• Michigan is 1 of only 8 states still suspending driver's licenses for drug offenses unrelated to driving
• Who's helping the 52,199 women released from Michigan correctional facilities each year?
• Our letter: Ionia County postcard-only jail mail policy should be canceled
• Michigan ACLU uses our map, testifies against harmful loitering bill
• Michigan spares most counties and municipalities from prison-based gerrymandering
• 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

Other resources

• Research on Michigan in our Research Library