Starting Dec. 1, the Michigan Department of Corrections will pilot a new classification system at select prisons with the aim of reducing prison violence.
The department reported that over 300 prison officers were assaulted by inmates and over 500 were against other prisoners in 2025.
“The new classification system provides improved data, streamlines administrative processes, and allows the department to conduct more robust risk factor analysis,” wrote MDOC Spokesperson Lucas Verran in an email to WCMU.
Inmates are classified into four different security levels. Their sentence, criminal history and other factors determine which prison they are placed in and how much movement and supervision they receive.
The new system was created in partnership with Recidiviz, a nonprofit organization that analyzes data for crime justice agencies across the United States.
Verran said the company has been hired to examine historical prison data, hold focus groups and talk with employees to help improve the classification system.
“A person’s classification level is established to provide the best chance of success and safety for that individual and the facility where they are placed,” wrote Verran.
Some correction officers have voiced frustrations with Michigan’s current system.
Steve Ladoux works at Michigan’s St. Louis Correctional Facility. He says prisoners who have been misclassified have contributed to a rise in assaults at the St. Louis facility.
He says this year the facility has seen, “about 23 staff assaults as of the 17th of October."
In September, Ladoux and the Michigan Corrections Organization protested against the MDOC after an inmate grabbed a female mental health counselor and manufactured a weapon.
They were protesting to bring awareness to staffing shortages in prisons across Michigan.
Low staffing has been an ongoing issue for the state's correction department, with multiple facilities experiencing a vacancy rate of over 30%.
Ladoux says shortages have led to mandated overtime.
“Everybody's working pretty much a 16-hour shift, whether you volunteer or you're forced to, which violates the 32-hour rule in our contract,” he said. “But that's the only way they can continue to run this facility.”
The new classification system comes months after MDOC announced an initiative that aims to address staffing and safety concerns.
Recidiviz said that its organization gets assistance from artificial intelligence to transcribe meetings and “reliably lead to better workflows for staff and better outcomes for the population they serve.”
However, both the Recidiviz and MDOC released statements saying AI will not be used in the new classification system after initial reporting on the matter was released by "some prominent news organizations."
“The updated classification tool does not replace corrections staff’s decision-making abilities,” MDOC wrote in a statement on Nov. 5. “Instead, it calculates an assessment score, which staff review using their experience and sound judgment, and then use to make a final classification decision.”
It’s unclear which prisons the new system will be piloted in.
