Michigan MDOC outlines ‘offender success’ programs, responds to recent facility audits

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary heard a detailed briefing on Oct. 27, 2025, from Kyle Kaminski, vendor success administrator and legislative liaison with the Michigan Department of Corrections, on the department’s Offender Success (OS) programs, budget lines that fund reentry services and education, and the department’s response to recent Auditor General facility audits.

Kaminski told the subcommittee that OS combines several targeted programs operating at different stages of the felony criminal‑justice process and that the combined approach has coincided with declines in prison intake and recidivism. "We want safer communities, safer neighborhoods," Kaminski said, adding that the department’s mission centers on preparing people for self‑sufficiency through employment and skill building.

The department presented comparative data showing statewide improvement on several measures between the early 2000s and 2023: a three‑year recidivism measure fell from about 43 percent for releases tracked in 2003 to 22.7 percent for releases tracked in 2020; the number of new‑sentence "pro violators" dropped from roughly 1,600 to under 600, Kaminski said. He cautioned that cross‑state comparisons are imperfect because states measure recidivism differently, but said Michigan’s measure places it among the better performing states using the common metric.

Kaminski outlined the principal budget lines that support OS staffing and programs. The offender success services line funds…