LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) has been the one department in the state that has had its budget impacted dramatically by the reduction of federal pandemic money.

The past four years.

MDOC received $943.3 million of federal money in 2021-22, a huge increase over the $5.3 million it received in federal funding in 2018-19, the year before the pandemic hit.

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In 2024-25, the MDOC went back to its pre-pandemic levels of federal funding and received $5.2 million.

From 2019-20 through 2022-23, the MDOC received an average of $481.4 million a year in federal funding. That took a lot of strain off the state’s General Fund budget, which was able to rely on that federal funding and reduced appropriations to the MDOC.

COVID funding.

Prisons were a focus of federal pandemic funding. The state of Michigan expressed concern about COVID-19 spreading in prisons because physical distancing could not be maintained. The state continued testing for COVID-19 for anyone entering the facility as a new employee or transferred inmate in 2021 and 2022.

With the loss of the federal funding, the state’s General Fund budget appropriation to the MDOC reached a record $2.1 billion in 2024-25.

Ongoing staffing problems.

This century, the state’s prison system has been reduced in terms of funding and staffing.

Adjusted for inflation, MDOC costs were $3.00 billion in 2001, 29% less than the total 2024-25 budget of $2.15 billion when adjusted for inflation. MDOC has 33% fewer employees since 2001.