Michigan plans prison violence-risk classification pilot

Michigan’s Department of Corrections will begin piloting a new prisoner classification system on Dec. 1 at select men’s prisons, using real-time data and more frequent reviews to better match incarcerated people to security levels and predict future violence. The department says the system is expected to improve prediction accuracy by about 30%; the effort comes amid nationwide increases in assaults on staff and between incarcerated people. Corrections officials say better-matched classifications could improve safety, but the union representing Michigan corrections staff cautions that prisons may lack the bed space to move people identified as higher-risk into more secure facilities.