[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6291569,"mediaKeyId","2529949-72c5e16ed1697accb03150e8937227f3","parentId",2529949,"title","Subcommittee hears $2.1 billion corrections budget; staffing, health care drive costs","audioSeconds",1818,"startMs",441000,"endMs",2259000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2529949-72c5e16ed1697accb03150e8937227f3&start=441&end=2259","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2529949-72c5e16ed1697accb03150e8937227f3/thumbnail_441000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6291569/Michigan/Subcommittee-hears-21-billion-corrections-budget-staffing-health-care-drive-costs","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6291569-b5d320aaa88cccf85da86779afbdd01a/orig.mp4?Expires=1775261036&Signature=gu2FzzmUFQKlffJeLHVtPWdgL2wRF9EBrYsB9EcwPGlJPjI1N~FT5AAB3q8xCO1ETlLmSe4g2vQCMuRCbxxewwnSo1mLlNEj61w3cPmpIwlgzI4KFNDfz7MpEmJLsNQcFR1y16XiJw3ya-vy8Ew0pF1vizaae~53XfmXo3aQZIrpVmLS6BrMkghun4lLjSdEkHBv-XG15jD10Hz46Leu--mudqkhgeesRc8X8lfFw0VlEhU2xU1qAw1v2xupK83m~fT0eUQGHUad0EdKvyt0yzJum0cZoVpKqc3Kr9Nrhz5T4X4fvyhw~jdLMHopQTWREuz9Wy2vN62MTxyIYQDwkw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Michigan House of Representatives","date","2025-03-06T00:00:00Z","article","Robin Risco, fiscal analyst with the House Fiscal Agency, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary that the Department of Corrections' fiscal 2025 budget totals about $2.1 billion and is largely financed with state general fund/general purpose revenue.

Risco said corrections accounts for roughly 14% of the state's general fund and that prison operations — including custody, transportation and behavioral programming — make up about 77% of the department's budget. \"The fiscal year 25 corrections budget totals $2,100,000,000,\" Risco said during the committee's presentation.

The nut graf: the department's personnel costs and an aging prisoner population are the main drivers of budget growth, while staffing shortfalls have raised overtime and contract costs and remain a central pressure on the budget.

Risco walked the panel through five-year trends and specific line items. She said the department received roughly $1.8 billion in federal COVID-relief funds across fiscal years 2020–2023 that were used to offset what would otherwise have been general fund spending for payroll and frontline costs. She also described facility closures that reduced FTEs and produced one-time savings, including the Michigan Reformatory and a portion of the Gus Harrison Correctional Facility.

Key budget and population figures cited by Risco include: total state workforce of 49,088 active classified employees, of which 10,638 (22%) are employed by the Department of Corrections; 2,239 total vacancies across MDOC, including 967.4 corrections officer vacancies and 183.5 registered nurse vacancies; 2,572,496 overtime hours worked in fiscal 2024 costing about $118.2 million; and an offender population under department supervision of 73,397 as of Feb. 1, 2025, including 32,574 prisoners.

Per-prisoner costs also drew attention: Risco reported a daily per-diem of $137.44 in fiscal 2024 and an approximate annual per-prisoner cost of $46,000 when operations and health-care costs are combined. She noted that health-care spending has risen in part because the prison population is aging: in 2024, 52.1% of prisoners were over age 40 and 28.2% over age 50.

Risco described health-care demand inside facilities: about 12 prisoner deaths per month on average, leading medical causes including cancer and cardiovascular disease, roughly 201 active oncology patients, 86 prisoners in hospice care, 59 receiving dialysis, and an estimated 100,000 prescriptions filled monthly for about 21,000 prisoners. She added that under the U.S. Constitution and federal court orders the state must provide health care in a manner that is not deliberately indifferent.

On alternative programming and reentry, Risco said the fiscal 2025 budget includes $94.2 million for offender-success programs, of which $58.8 million is dedicated to education, job training and career-readiness while incarcerated. She described three vocational villages (Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia; Parnall and Jackson; and Women's Huron Valley in Ypsilanti) offering trades and higher-education partnerships with postsecondary institutions.

Committee members asked a series of follow-up questions during the presentation. Representative Cam asked whether local ambulance services are reimbursed for runs to correctional facilities; Risco replied that the department contracts for health-care providers and that recent contract disputes are in litigation, and that the budget provided funding for the contracted provider. Members also asked for geographic definitions of numbered prosperity regions; a Department of Corrections representative clarified Region 1 is the Upper Peninsula, Region 4 is West Michigan anchored by Kent County, and Regions 2, 7 and 8 span other western-to-eastern parts of the state including the capital region (Clinton, Ingham and Eaton counties).

Risco said the department has taken steps to bolster staffing — increasing recruit academy enrollment (the first two academies of fiscal 2025 started with 278 recruits) and exploring traveling staff units, recruitment efforts, bonuses and pay-step acceleration — but that vacancies and overtime remain a material budget pressure.

No formal committee votes were taken during the presentation portion of the meeting; members directed staff to follow up with additional detail on specific questions, including the geographic definition of prosperity regions and details on mandated versus discretionary overtime when departmental leadership appears before the committee.

Ending: The committee adjourned after the presentations and a brief question-and-answer session; staff indicated they would supply more detailed data when agency leadership is present for subsequent hearings.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary - 3/06/2025","oneSentenceSummary","Robin Risco, fiscal analyst with the House Fiscal Agency, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary that the Department of Corrections' fiscal 2025 budget totals about $2.1 billion and is largely financed with state general fund/general purpose revenue.","taxTitle","Appropriations, 2025 Senate Legislature MI, Michigan","taxId",79407,"location","Michigan","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6291565,"Subcommittee reviews judiciary budget; one-time $150 million case-management funding noted",1113,2652000,3765000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2529949-72c5e16ed1697accb03150e8937227f3&start=2652&end=3765","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2529949-72c5e16ed1697accb03150e8937227f3/thumbnail_2652000.jpg","/articles/6291565/Michigan/Subcommittee-reviews-judiciary-budget-one-time-150-million-case-management-funding-noted","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6291565-c5c28b6d81a37ebbd6a5c258e084337d/orig.mp4?Expires=1775261036&Signature=SqevrjzCApsVQ77v3wnESXRoQGd~0CsVZ9Syc5-1d~ahnmOZxM6DtcqfSd92xuwXOh-HLpCl041VvLs4dkOEa56h7S84s4kNWFEXCAszBOKuDaqEXmT8MTJoZIFd~xNGEG-TfwvXjgWDMvhFwdo5kkX6sGfFPR38K15~2J0L3LEd58q8PoHGz7C5JwZy3dCxQmpUrTsOA7tbVS33zOv0caoT00Am-GoApA6YIeXM8vXE8VTF96cM1MhinPL7nbjC1dGvsEzLU4sX5GrBGzs34QZFSpIcAKwn40ReSXDL6EnNus-IGHWfQk0tOs7TA3OFe9DifJ6usXab~EjKBLKbdA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Robin Risco, fiscal analyst with the House Fiscal Agency, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary that the judiciary branch's fiscal 2025 budget totals $373.4 million and is funded primarily with state general fund and state-restricted revenues.

Risco emphasized that the judiciary is a separate branch of government and reminded members the legislature cannot mandate judicial actions. She cited Article 6, Section 1 of the Michigan Constitution as the authority for the judicial branch.

The nut graf: while smaller than other state departments, the judiciary budget supports courts, judicial salaries and grant programs that defray local trial-court costs; a large, one-time appropriation in fiscal 2023 for a new case-management system accounts for much of short-term growth in past years.

Risco provided a breakdown of appropriations and fund sources: the FY25 judiciary budget totals $373.4 million in gross appropriations and $266.1 million in general fund. She said about 97% of the budget is financed with state general fund and state-restricted funding and listed major state-restricted sources including the court equity fund ($50.4 million), judicial electronic filing fund ($12.0 million), state court fund ($8.4 million) and juror compensation fund ($6.6 million). Federal funding (about $7.1 million) largely comes from multiple grant sources including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Risco noted that 81% of the budget — about $302.2 million — supports judicial salaries and court operations: 33% for judicial salaries, 24% for the Supreme Court and 24% for trial court operations. She said the state spent about $101.3 million on judges' salaries in fiscal 2024, plus associated FICA and retirement costs.

She described the statutory and constitutional framework for judge compensation: the State Officers' Compensation Commission sets salaries for Supreme Court justices; salaries for Court of Appeals and trial court judges are determined under the Revised Judicature Act of 1961 and subsequent amendments that changed how judicial salaries are calculated. Risco also noted an amendment effective Oct. 1, 2022, that required district court judges' salaries to equal probate court judges'.

Grant programs that support local courts received attention. Risco said $60.8 million in court equity fund reimbursements assist local trial courts with operational expenses and that problem-solving courts are funded through specific appropriations: about $5.7 million for mental health courts (39 courts), funding for 134 drug treatment courts, roughly $1.1 million for 27 veterans treatment courts, and about $3.4 million for the swift, sure, sanctions probation program (21 circuit courts participating as of Dec. 31, 2024). She emphasized that participation in grant programs is at the discretion of judges and cannot be mandated by the state.

Risco outlined other components: $22.2 million for the State Appellate Defender Office, which handles indigent appeals, and $2.9 million for the Judicial Tenure Commission, which investigates complaints against judges.

Committee members asked clarifying questions: Chair Slaw asked whether National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funds are targeted; Risco replied they are used for drug treatment courts and drunk-driving programs. Members also asked about last recommendations to change Supreme Court justice pay; Risco recalled a House resolution passed in the prior session that recommended increases but said it did not pass the Senate.

No formal committee votes were recorded during the briefing. The presentation concluded and the subcommittee adjourned after a short question-and-answer period.","House Fiscal Agency analyst Robin Risco briefed the subcommittee on the judiciary's $373.4 million fiscal 2025 budget, highlighting a one-time $150 million appropriation in 2023 for a statewide judicial case-management system and the composition of funds that support courts and grant programs.","actionData","errors"]

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Subcommittee hears $2.1 billion corrections budget; staffing, health care drive costs

Subcommittee reviews judiciary budget; one-time $150 million case-management funding noted