Every week, families in Michigan walk into prison visiting rooms with their hearts pounding; not from excitement to see a loved one, but from anxiety over what excuse Michigan DOC staff will use today to deny them entry.
One week, a cardigan is fine. The next, it’s suddenly contraband. A bra that passed the scanner last week? Now, it triggers a “calibration issue.” Jeans? Sorry, not today. Women are humiliated with comments like “go buy a sports bra” from male staff; and this is coming from the same DOC currently being sued for sexual harassment. These arbitrary dress code shakedowns aren’t about security; they’re about control, humiliation, and discouraging in-person visits to make up for the state’s budget shortfalls.
Families are exhausted. They’re bullied, turned away, and shamed, even though they are the lifeline for incarcerated people.
Anecdotally, I flew this week. It was easier to get through TSA check-points and board six different flights than to see a loved one in prison.
The Profit Behind the Harassment
Why would MDOC make visiting in person so miserable? Follow the money.
- Michigan has contracts with JPAY/Securus Technologies that guarantee the state a 25% commission on all paid services…including video visitation.
- The GTL (Global Tel Link) contract gives MDOC a 41% commission on phone calls.
JPay Contract
GTL Contract
Rip-Off Highlights
- MDOC made paid video visits an official, statewide standard (May 5, 2025).
This is odd to point it out, because many families already knew this. The policy implemented mThe Video Visiting memo explicitly says: “All video visits will be paid for by the visitor using ViaPath,” and caps lengths/quantities by security level. That’s a clear, formalized revenue stream. - MDOC adjusted in-person visiting blocks starting April 7, 2025 “to increase utilization.” Weekday blocks changed from 2 hours to 3 hours “to increase utilization of weekday visits,” with rollout beginning April 7, 2025. This shows active engineering of visiting patterns around that time; they don’t want people to visit on the weekends when they’re typically shorter in staff.
- Contracts require commissions/sales-commission reporting.
- JPAY/Securus (071B7700058): Change Notice #9 shows MDOC forwent a $10 commission on JP6 players to keep the price at $39.99; proof commissions are baked into this contract. Keeping player costs low means they can continue taking in commission from tablet content sales.
- GTL/ViaPath (071B7700057): The contract requires monthly “Sales Commission Report” submissions and even imposes a $500/day penalty if commissions aren’t received on time. This isn’t a percentage figure, but it’s explicit that MDOC receives commissions and polices timeliness in getting its cut.
- Family Advisory Board (FAB) materials show money flows around visiting.
- Visiting room photo revenue credits to the Prisoner Benefit Fund (PBF), not the state, meaning it’s not a money-maker for DOC, a reason why they often do not care if someone isn’t available to take pictures.
- The in-person and video standards were both re-issued May 5, 2025.
The in-person memo is the long ruleset families are experiencing; it doesn’t say “we’re doing this for revenue,” but it doesn’t have to, because it coincides with the paid video standards memo.
When families give up on in-person visits and turn to video visitation or phone calls instead, the state cashes in. Michigan intentionally changed its visiting policies in April, and again around May 5th, all around the time they knew the state budget was going to get shaky. At many facilities, these policies weren’t and still aren’t posted for families to read.
It’s no coincidence that right as we approach a potential for a government shutdown, Michigan DOC is literally turning away families and exploiting them to save itself.
Budget Cuts, Staff Cuts—But Time for Bad Memos
At the same time, the misguided Michigan House GOP budget plan cuts deeply into state services, including corrections staffing, school lunches, and other public worker supports, claiming they’re going to shift billions toward roads and infrastructure. They cut over 700 jobs from DOC to assist in obtaining road funds. Funds which, when considering how most state agencies already handle money, will most definitely be mismanaged. Why? A political attempt to stick it to Governor Gretchen Whitmer for not “fixing the damn roads.”
Fewer staff in prison visiting rooms means more arbitrary rule enforcement and an intentionally stronger tilt toward the revenue-generating digital options.
And yet, with all these cuts, DOC leadership somehow has time for things like Jeremy Bush’s long-winded memorandums written far above the average reading level in Michigan. If there’s time for Jeremy to draft documents that most readers won’t understand, there’s time to actually improve internal processes that would legitimately save money and make visits smoother.
If staff resources are truly scarce, why not dispatch them more wisely? Instead of harassing families over a bra, use that time to streamline systems, train staff consistently, and stop wasting taxpayer dollars.
Literacy Gaps and Impossible Expectations
Adding insult to injury, the state asks its workforce to write policies above the average Michigan reading level, it also expects families already stressed and vulnerable to memorize those same policies just to see loved ones.
The Barbara Bush Foundation reports Michigan ranks 22nd in adult literacy nationwide, with literacy levels below the U.S. average (about 7th–8th grade reading). Jeremy’s document, according to Flesch-Kincaid Reading Calculators, clocks in at Grade 12 to early college level.
Families are intentionally set up to fail when DOC rules drip with bureaucracy and are inconsistently enforced by staff who change their interpretation day by day, week by week. And there is zero recourse for families.
It’s no wonder families get frustrated when they’re turned away. The system is designed to confuse them, not to welcome them.
Security Theater, Real Harm
DOC loves to point at “safety” when challenged, but everyone knows the truth: staff bring in more contraband than families ever could. Yet families are the ones punished with degrading searches, arbitrary denials, and shifting dress codes.
This is strategy. A quiet push to make in-person visits absolutely unbearable and make children cry, so families “choose” the paid video option.
It’s not just cruel; it’s exploitative.
The Bigger Cost
Every barrier DOC builds around visiting rooms chips away at rehabilitation, family stability, and public trust. Strong family ties are one of the biggest predictors of successful reentry. But instead of strengthening them, Michigan is monetizing them.
And then they wonder why families are demanding an independent ombudsman. This is why. DOC cannot be trusted to put anyone but themselves first.
What You Can Do
This problem won’t fix itself and silence only protects the people cashing in. Here are steps you can take right now:
- Contact your state representative and senator. Tell them to end commission-based corrections contracts and to fund independent oversight of MDOC.
- Support advocacy groups and local prisoner family networks who are already organizing around these issues.
- Submit public comments during budget hearings and legislative sessions make it clear families and communities are watching and we are happy to vote them out.
- Share stories. If you or someone you know has been humiliated or turned away under MDOC’s arbitrary dress code, speak up. Public pressure changes the narrative.
- Demand plain-language policies. Families shouldn’t be expected to decode memos written above the state’s average literacy level.
Every letter, phone call, and testimony matters. The system depends on families giving up. Tell them “Hell No.”
Refuse to quit.
Michigan DOC doesn’t just have a profit motive baked into its contracts; it now has a budget environment that reinforces it. Fewer staff, more confusing rules, families forced to navigate policies written above their reading level, and more profit flowing in from video screens. Until Lansing ends commission-based corrections contracts, families will keep being humiliated in prison lobbies while the state looks on and cashes in.
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