Michigan State Prison

Michigan State Prison or Jackson State Prison, which opened in 1839, was the first prison in Michigan. After 150 years, the prison was divided, starting in 1988, into four distinct prisons, still in Jackson: the Parnall Correctional Facility which is a minimum-security prison; the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility where prisoners can finish their general education; the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center which is the common point of processing for all male state prisoners sentenced to any Michigan prison; and the Cooper Street Correctional Facility which is the common point for processing of all male state prisoners about to discharge, parole, or enter a community center or the camp program.HistoryThe first permanent structure was constructed in Jackson in 1842. In 1926, the prison was relocated to a new building, and soon became the largest walled prison in the world with nearly 6,000 inmates. The prison was renamed the State Prison of Southern Michigan in 1935. Beginning in 1988, the prison was carved up into several correctional facilities. The Southern Michigan Correctional Facility (JMF), which contained the heart of the 1926 prison structure, was finally closed on November 17, 2007. After JMF was closed, much of the prison remains open however, 7 Block, which used to be quarantine, has been closed and changed into a prison museum and is now open to the public for tours. The original 1842 site was used as a Michigan National Guard armory for some time, and now houses residential apartments as well as several art galleries and a bicycle cooperative.The original prisonThe first prison was built in Jackson, Michigan, and became the original nucleus of the city. The enclosed area of the old prison was about 20acre. Almost from the beginning, the old prison was chronically overcrowded. In 1876, the problem was mitigated when new prisons were erected in Marquette and Ionia; this only somewhat eased the overcrowding. Throughout its history, new buildings were added continuously. At its peak capacity, the prison housed around 2,200 inmates in four cell blocks and a dormitory. In the older blocks, the cells were very small at only 7ft long, by 3 feet wide, by 6 ½ feet high. In the newer blocks built in 1904, the cells measured 9ft × 5 ½ feet × 7ft. Women prisoners were confined at the Michigan State Prison up until 1852; there had been 10 female prisoners committed up until that date.