Prisons

It’s now easier for jail inmates in Michigan’s largest county to get IDs upon release. Colin Jackson has more.

It’s been more than a year since Manchester resident Paul Whelan returned home after being imprisoned by Russia on what he and U.S. officials call bogus espionage charges. WEMU’s Caroline MacGregor talked to Whelan about his experience and difficulties assimilating back into the U.S. since his release.

The University of Michigan arts program, or the post-incarcerated Linkage Community, is going independent. WEMU’s Kevin Meerschaert reports.

A Michigan Department of Corrections report says the rate of repeat offenders being returned to prisons is at an all-time low. We have more from Rick Pluta.

A state House committee voted along party lines Wednesday for a bill to blunt the effects of a Michigan Supreme Court decision. The ruling says 19- and 20-year-olds cannot be automatically sentenced to life-without-parole. Rick Pluta has more.

Corrections departments across the country are seeing an increase in the use of contraband cell phones and, subsequently, a direct correlation to an increase in organized crimes in prisons. WEMU’s Caroline MacGregor chats with MDOC Director Heidi Washington about calls for state legislation to pass signal jamming technology to detect and disrupt contraband cell phone use in correctional facilities.

The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on whether the state’s felony murder standard is constitutional. We have more from Rick Pluta.

New state reports out Thursday are listing concerns with three of Michigan’s prisons. Colin Jackson has more.

The Eastern Michigan University Undergraduate Research Symposium will feature incarcerated students enrolled in the school's "College in Prison" program in a first-of-its-kind occasion in Michigan. WEMU’s Ana Longoria has more.

Inmates in Michigan’s only prison for women are suing the state Department of Corrections. Colin Jackson has more.