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Bill to restore unannounced legislator site visits to MDOC divides witnesses over oversight and safety
Summary
House Bill 4669 would codify pre-2022 practice allowing legislators to conduct unannounced visits to Department of Corrections facilities; witnesses including FAM and the Carl Levin Center supported the bill as oversight-enhancing, while MDOC opposed statutory change, saying policy (not statute) should govern visits and citing past disruptive actor
The House Government Operations Committee heard testimony on House Bill 4669, which would restore legislators’ statutory authority to perform unannounced site visits to Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) facilities, rescinding a post-2022 72-hour notice requirement for legislators.
Sponsor Representative Pohutsky said the bill simply codifies longstanding practice and is intended to preserve lawmakers’ ability to provide meaningful oversight. “The ability for us to visit facilities that we fund and where our constituents are being housed is a long standing, fundamental, and crucial aspect of our job,” the sponsor said in committee testimony.
Proponents argued unannounced visits reveal conditions that announced inspections can obscure. Eden Kinlock, state…
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