MDOC outlines offender-success budget, cites lower recidivism; auditors find facility lapses

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary heard a briefing from Kyle Kaminski, offender success administrator and legislative liaison for the Michigan Department of Corrections, on the department's offender success (OS) programs, related FY budget lines and performance measures. Committee members asked about program scalability and recent audits of three prisons by the state auditor general.

The presentation focused on how MDOC's OS portfolio — staff who deliver in-reach services, education and vocational training, community residential services, performance‑based regional reentry contracts and specialized health/mental‑health reintegration contracts — fits together to reduce recidivism and prison intake while supporting postrelease self‑sufficiency. Kaminski cited long‑term trends showing lower prison intake and a decline in the three‑year recidivism rate from about 43 percent in the early 2000s to about 22.7 percent for the most recent cohort measured.

Kaminski described the major budget lines and their primary purposes. The offender success services staffing line funds in‑reach staff, curriculum and licensure costs; education carries roughly 270 FTEs and about $40 million in annual expenditures; community residential (probation residential) beds are contracted statewide with a FY25…