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Michigan recidivism rate continues to decline

LANSING, MI--   The following is a press release from the Michigan Department of Corrections:

Michigan’s recidivism rate has dropped for the second year in a row and continues to stand at its lowest rate in state history.

The recidivism rate, which measures the percentage of offenders who return to prison within three years of release, is now at 26.6 percent. This continues to place Michigan’s rate among the best in the country.

Offenders can be returned to prison for committing new crimes, or for violating the conditions of their parole. The current figures represent individuals who were released from prison in 2017.

Recidivism in Michigan has hovered around 30 percent in past years and it reflects a sharp drop from 1998 when the rate was 45.7 percent.

“Our administration has spent the last two years delivering bipartisan solutions to improve the criminal justice system in a way that makes Michigan a leader in smart justice, and the results speak for themselves,” said Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II. “We must continue to pursue reforms that allow the system to work for more people, so that fewer people return to prison or find themselves there in the first place. When we build programs and policies that are designed to help people—victims, survivors, and those who have committed offenses—we simultaneously make our families, neighborhoods, and communities safer and stronger.”

Last year, the department’s recidivism rate stood at 26.7 percent. The year before that it was at 29.1 percent.

In 2020, the department built upon its success and began new efforts to further enhance Offender Success that will help to reduce the number of people coming back to prison even more in the years to come.

The department’s third Vocational Village is set to launch soon at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility. And last summer, the MDOC and the Michigan Department of State announced a joint initiative to help returning citizens reintegrate into their communities by providing them with a driver’s license or state ID upon their parole.

Efforts to reduce opioid addiction, provide mentors to parolees and use of a new model to improve interactions with those the MDOC supervises are just some of the plans rolling out this year as part of the department’s strategic plan.

“We are proud to see the rate of recidivism continue to decline. It is a clear sign we are on the right path,” said Department of Corrections Director Heidi Washington. “Our focus on long-term public safety not only helps those under our supervision and their families, but also the wider community, as having fewer people coming to prison, means less crime and fewer victims.”

While the department sees the drop in the recidivism rate as a positive sign, the fact that far fewer people are in prison today, is just as an important of a measure of success. The prison population now is at 33,000, which is a level not seen in 30 years.

Since 2015, the prison population has dropped by 21 percent, due to a focus on programming for probationers to give them the tools needed to not end up in prison, greatly expanding programming and educational opportunities for prisoners and enhanced methods of supervision upon release that lead to better outcomes and increased employment.

“Our staff, from the prison to the field and everywhere in between have all had a hand in our success and it is because of their efforts, we continue to see these historic declines,” Washington said.

Nicole was born near Detroit but has lived in the U.P. most of her life. She graduated from Marquette Senior High School and attended Michigan State and Northern Michigan Universities, graduating from NMU in 1993 with a degree in English.