Prisoner Grievances - 472-0311-26
Agency Description
The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) is responsible for receiving, logging, and investigating grievances made by its population of 32,386 prisoners (as of April 2026) who are housed in 26 correctional facilities throughout the State. The prisoner grievance process is a method of seeking redress for alleged violations of policy and procedure or unsatisfactory conditions of confinement as defined in MDOC policy directive 03.02.130. The nature of prisoner grievances ranges from issues with MDOC personnel, health care, confinement conditions, prisoner property, and food, among others. Correctional facility grievance coordinators are responsible for logging and assigning accepted prisoner grievances to applicable facility staff for investigation and response. A prisoner has two opportunities to appeal MDOC’s grievance response, with the first appeal handled by correctional facility staff and the second appeal handled by MDOC’s Office of Legal Affairs, Grievance Section. MDOC received and processed approximately 96,700 prisoner-initiated grievances from January 2024 through April 2026, averaging 3,500 grievances per month Statewide.
Audit Objectives
- To assess the effectiveness of MDOC’s efforts to safeguard submitted prisoner grievance forms prior to processing.
- To assess the sufficiency of MDOC’s efforts to process prisoner grievances.
Timing
Estimated Release Date: Mid 2027
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