PEOPLE NOT NUMBERS/ Inside Michigan
142,592 · records  ·  520,719 · sentences
VOL. I · NO. 01 · A PUBLIC-DATA PROJECT

People, not offenders.

Coverage All 83 Michigan countiesSample 142,592 individuals · 520,719 sentencesPhotos Withheld by default
§ 01DashboardThe numbers at a glance§ 02LookupFind an individual record§ 03ReformThe confrontational view§ 04Deaths InsideDeaths, illness & the undercount§ 05FlowPopulation flows & reform metrics§ 06MovementsAggregate facility changes§ 07Ask the DataAI over 520,719 sentences§ 08SupportKeep the work going
§ 03 — The Reform Case

The numbers are not abstract.

Six facts drawn directly from the data, in the largest possible type. Each one is a policy question.

ERD Accountability Clock

12,962 years* past first parole eligibility

Every second added here is human time the institution must be able to explain.

* Local mirror scraped 03/05/2026-05/29/2026; ERD/PBJD is first parole eligibility, not guaranteed release.

12,962 years9 months17 days18 hours47 minutes42 seconds
5,150people currently marked Prisoner past ERD
0-6 months1,660
6-12 months630
1-2 years816
2-5 years1,238
5+ years806
Read the argument

* Calculation uses the local MDOC public-record mirror scraped 03/05/2026-05/29/2026, evaluated 05/31/2026. ERD/PBJD means earliest parole eligibility / Parole Board jurisdiction, not guaranteed release.

Fact 01 · Public-record mirror
74.7%
of convictions were plea bargains
388,843 of 520,719 — a system that almost never goes to trial.
Fact 02 · Public-record mirror
43.8%
of the system is Black
Black Michiganders are 13.7% of the state population — a 3.2× overrepresentation.
Fact 03 · Public-record mirror
32,973
serving life or 40+ years
Roughly one in 16 of every maximum sentence on record.
Fact 04 · Public-record mirror
23.8%
of all sentences come from Wayne County
Detroit's metro drives a disproportionate share of every data point in this set.
Fact 05 · Public-record mirror
2.7×
growth in sentencing from the 90s to the 2000s
112,355 sentences in the 2000s vs. 40,931 in the 1990s.
Fact 06 · Public-record mirror
17.5%
of sentences are drug-related
90,942 convictions tied to narcotics, meth, and delivery charges.
New section — Deaths Inside

The number the State is least honest about: who dies inside.

Federal rules are explicit that a person who dies after being moved from prison to a hospital is still a death in custody. People Not Numbers is building an independent, sourced record of in-custody deaths, illness, and healthcare neglect — counting every death, wherever it happens.

Open Deaths Inside →
§ 03b — Human scale

31,849 people
are incarcerated in Michigan right now.

Below, that number rendered as 1,859 tiles in the shape of the state — one for roughly every 17people. The tiles don’t mark where anyone is held; they’re a count, poured into the outline of Michigan until it fills. Move across the map to weigh a single tile, or click to hold one.

31,849 incarcerated
1,859 tiles · one ≈ 17 people
shape: Michigan, true boundary
Lake SuperiorLake MichiganLake HuronLake Erie
Hover or tap a tile · click to pin · arrow keys to explore. Every figure is anonymized — no real photos are shown here.Source · public-record mirror, Apr 2026