Michigan Inmate Search
Public members are able to access Michigan inmate search records of offenders incarcerated in state prison, county jail, city jail, and detention centers. These records are the inmate’s personal and official data that include their name, address, gender, offender ID number, criminal charges, booking date, court summons, and more.
How do I find an inmate in Michigan?
The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) provides an inmate locating tool on their website, to help users find prisoners incarcerated in the state prison. On the MDOC website, users can go to the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS) to obtain records of an inmate. On top of that, OTIS also provides lists of prisoners on parole or probation supervised by the department. In order to use the tool, individuals can search inmate records on OTIS by the prisoner name, MDOC ID number, sex, age, race, and status. According to Michigan law, the MDOC is required to maintain inmate records on OTIS within 3 years of their release.
Individuals who are looking for an inmate in county jail or city jail can look the inmate up from their website since all the records are archived within the county or police department’s database. Some municipalities will have a jail roster instead of an inmate search tool, therefore individuals should check the website of the jail before opting to contact them for a record request.
Where are Michigan inmates housed?
The Michigan Department of Corrections currently manages all 30 state prisons in Michigan including one Special Alternative Incarceration (SAI) Facility. Location and other information of each correctional facility are provided by the MDOC on their website in alphabetical order.
State inmates assessed based on their security risk, and management level of inmates in the facility. There are five levels of prisons classified by the Department of Corrections, level I being the least threatening and easiest to manage, and level 5 being the most threatening and poses management problem.
Additionally, the SAI facility is a level 1 facility and adapted a military-style boot camp. Individual who are sentenced to this facility is referred to as trainees instead of inmates or prisoner
Michigan County Jails
County jails are known for housing inmates with a sentence of less than a year. And unlike state prisons, county jails are under the management of the county Sheriff’s Office and led by a Sheriff. In Michigan, some of the counties are very well-known for their jail capacity of housing a large number of offenders. Among the popular county jails are:
Wayne County Jail
Wayne County is known for having three county jails and one detention center. Jail I (Andrew C. Baird Detention Facility) is a jail located in the City of Detroit and has a capacity of 1.285 inmates. This facility houses both male and female detainees and has a security level of minimum-medium. Jail II (the Old Wayne County Jail) is a linear supervision type of jail and can house up to 770 inmates. Jail III (William Dickerson Detention Facility) located in the city of Hamtramck is a medium-security level jail, with a capacity of 896 inmates. Meanwhile, the detention center is a juvenile detention center housing both male and female detainees and can house up to 194 inmates.
Oakland County Jail
The Oakland County Jail is a two-division jail that houses both male and female inmates with different security levels. The main Oakland County Jail is located in Pontiac, Michigan, and houses up to 440 inmates. Meanwhile, the East Annex Oakland County Jail houses a maximum of 398 inmates ranging from minimum-medium and low-medium (worker inmates).
Macomb County Jail
The Macomb County Jail is located in the city of Mt Clemens, Michigan, and has a capacity of 1,238 inmates in total. Offenders detained in these jails are housed separately according to the crimes they committed, their risk assessment, and their behavior.
How do you contact an inmate in Michigan?
Friends and family are able to keep in touch with an inmate incarcerated in the state prison of Michigan by contacting them via mail. In order for individuals to write letters to an inmate, they have to abide by the rules prepared by the facility. Inmates will need to purchase their own stamps, stationery, and envelopes from the commissary. However, if inmates could not afford to but the materials and is considered indigent, the facility will loan them fund only for buying materials for sending mails.
All mails sent must include the full name and return address on the upper left-hand corner of the envelope. The following is the address format when sending mail to an inmate:
Inmate Name, MDOC Number
Facility Name
PO Box or Street Address
City, State, Zip Code
E-messages.
State prison inmates are allowed to send and receive electronic messages using the service prepared by JPAY. Both parties need to sign up for an account and purchase electronic stamps to start sending e-messages. All ingoing and outgoing messages will be scanned and monitored for safety reasons.
Phone Calls
Only prisoners are allowed to make outgoing calls to an individual outside of the facility, However, an inmate is only allowed to have 20 people in their personal allowed number (PAN) list that they can make outgoing call to. All outgoing calls are collect calls and prepaid calls made through an approved third-party service provider, Global *Tel Link (GTL).
How to contact the Michigan Department of Corrections?
An individual can reach out to the Michigan DOC through several numbers depending on the topic of interest below:
Parole and Probation: 517-335-1979
Healthcare: 517-335-2263
Prison: 517-335-1418
Programming and Education: 517-881-2534
General: 517-388-6892 OR 517-388-6894
How do you find out the release date of an inmate in Michigan?
An individual can utilize the OTIS tool on the Michigan DOC website to find out the release date of an inmate from the state prisons. However, if the data is not yet available, individuals can reach out to the Parole and Probation contact number to inquire about the status of the prisoners along with the release date.
Can I send a care package to an inmate in Michigan?
Michigan inmates are allowed to receive care packages only from approved third-party vendors such as Access Securepak. This company has a variety of care packages that families can choose to send to an inmate. However, they only send quarterly care packages that do not exceed $85 in total.
If an individual wants to send care packages to inmates in county jails or city jails, they need to contact the facility and ask which third-party vendors are approved by them. Care packages sent by unapproved vendors may be discarded or sent back.
What can you send inmates in Michigan prisons?
Sending mails to an inmate in Michigan
Individuals can send mails to an inmate in Michigan prison and may include letters, photos, and cards in the mail. However, mail sent to an inmate will need to comply with the regulations prepared by the Michigan DOC. Letters and cards should be as plain as possible with no malicious or sexual messages in the content. For photos, an inmate is only allowed to receive a maximum of five 4”x6” photos in one envelope with a single stamp
Sending money to an inmate in Michigan
Friends and family can send money to an inmate commissary account for inmates to use to purchase additional items from the commissary. In order to proceed with a money deposit, an individual may need to provide the following information to the service company:
- Inmate’s full name
- Inmate’s MDOC Identification Number
- Current housing location of the inmate.
There are several ways an individual can deposit money into an inmate’s account, such as:
Walk-In
Individuals may visit the selected facility that offers the usage of kiosks using cash or debit or credit card. For each successful transaction, there will be a fee of $4.00 charged.
Internet
By using GTL ConnectNetwork, individuals can deposit money online into an inmate account for a certain amount of fee. Individuals can use debit or credit cards to pay for the transaction.
Phone
An individual can also deposit money into a prisoner’s account over the phone by calling GTL services at the line 888-988-4768. Each transaction will be charged a certain fee.
Although sending money through the mail is the cheapest option, it is also the slowest method that could take up to 2 weeks for the money to be processed. The individual can use US Postal Money Order and completing the deposit slip right after. Both the money order and deposit slip need to be mailed to the GTL lockbox. The money can be paid using GTL Financial Services, which will need to include the inmate’s name and ID number in the memo field. Individuals will also need to include their information in the remitter information section, such as full name and address. The completed deposit slip and money order must be mailed together to the following address:
GTL Financial Services
2603 NW 13th Street
P.O. Box 328
Gainesville, FL 32609-2835
How do I apply for Visitation of an inmate in Michigan?
Before visiting a prisoner in state jail, you must be authorized by the MDOC and included on the visiting list of the prisoner. Each prisoner is expected to complete a visiting list form that lists their immediate family members and up to 10 other people they wish to see. In order to receive a reply notifying them of the status of their submission, each of these designated prospective visitors must then fill out and submit a visiting application form along with a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Before visiting an inmate, approved visitors should first contact the respective facility to inquire about the current status of visitation. Some facilities have halted visitation due to the COVID-19 and have established a video visitation. For more information, an individual is required to visit the Visiting a Prisoner page on the MDOC.
What are the Visitation rules?
The visitation rules and visiting hours of each facility are different from one another, therefore all approved visitors need to contact the facility housing the inmate regarding any update on regulation as well as visiting hours prior to any visit.