Michigan is leading the way in smart-on-crime policy by becoming the first state to turn an entire correctional facility into a secure college campus.
The state Legislature recently allocated $3.9 million to transform an unused industrial-scale warehouse within Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer into a self-contained college center. The college will provide higher education classes to all of the over 1,000 state prisoners held at the prison.
Once completed, the campus building will house dozens of classrooms, a computer room without internet, a library and a small cafe with food available for purchase by professors and students.
“I can’t wait until the campus building is done,” said James Burns, an incarcerated student. “I can spend my time learning and focusing. I don’t want to miss classes because of scheduling conflicts … [or] because of a gang riot on the yard. I’ll be able to devote 100% of my time to bettering myself.”
To be eligible, prisoners must be incarcerated at this medium security prison, which requires having no recent escape attempts, assaults on staff or use of a weapon. Meanwhile, to stay enrolled, students must maintain both good behavior and a minimum GPA, according to the prison’s warden and memorandums from the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Anyone who does not meet these requirements will be transferred to another prison.
Most prison staff whom I’ve talked to are supportive of the new direction.
“You college students aren’t the ones causing trouble,” an officer told me (prison rules prohibit me from quoting staff by name). “You aren’t the ones fighting and stabbing each other or getting caught with dope. You all are trying to do something better with your lives, and that’s what’s needed.”
Another officer added: “The prison I want to work at is the one where everyone is focused on something better.”
A 2023 study published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice found that prison education leads to significant reductions in recidivism and saves governments money.
Colleges providing instruction here currently operate out of a much smaller education building originally designed to house a GED school. The school contains only seven classrooms, which the colleges can utilize when the GED school is not in session. Conflicts over utilization and space have occasionally led to cancelled classes, to say nothing of the problems inherent to prison life — violence, lockdowns and so on — that can get in the way of holding classes.
Currently, five institutions of higher learning provide opportunities to earn college degrees across the Michigan prison system: Hope College, Calvin College, Ferris State University, Jackson Community College, and Mott Community College. They teach classes in business, social work, theology and liberal arts.
Prison administrators plan for classes to begin in the new campus building in 2026, before construction is due to be completed the following year. Mott Community College, Ferris State University and Rochester University have all signed on to continue or begin classes there once it opens.
Prison administrators plan for classes to begin in the new campus building in 2026, before construction is due to be completed the following year.
“My favorite place I have ever taught is in this prison,” said a professor from Mott Community College. “Nearly every student I have on [Mott’s Flint] campus spends their whole time on their phone or with their head down when he or she even bothers to show up. Nearly every student I have here is excited to learn, appreciative for the opportunity, and comes in fully engaged. You all ask questions. You guys are hungry to learn.”
He went on: “I tell my students on the outside that they need to be more like my students inside prison.”