30,000 incarcerated individuals in Michigan have been granted government-issued photo IDs prior to their release, thanks to the Returning Citizen Identification Program. The program, a collaboration between the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Michigan Department of State, began in 2020.
The program was designed to help recently released inmates reenter society, according to Kyle Kaminski, an offender success administrator at the MDOC. Kaminski said having access to a government issued ID is often required to access services that help keep people out of the criminal justice system.
“Being able to show and prove who you are is really important,” he said. “Probably the biggest benefit immediately at release is definitely for securing stable housing and helping to secure employment. But there's a lot of other things that people need to do while they're under supervision on parole that the ID helps them with.”
According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, one in four people on probation begin without stable housing. Of those with a stable living situation, many lived with family or friends. More than half of those surveyed ended up back in the criminal justice system.
Michigan’s recidivism, or return to prison rate, is currently 21%, the lowest measured in state history, according to the MDOC. Kaminski cites initiatives like the Returning Citizen Identification Program with helping reduce recidivism.
“Getting them through that initial transition period of going home, that's a relatively high risk period for many folks. And so to be able to not have them waiting to access services or not have them wait to secure a job because they're lacking something as basic as an ID is really important,” Kaminski said.
In 2024, the Michigan legislature passed a bill that would have required the MDOC to apply for IDs or licenses on behalf of those set for release. The bill was vetoed by Whitmer on technical grounds, although she said she “fully supports” the underlying policy in her veto letter.
There is currently a similar package of bills moving through the state legislature, which Kaminski says he is hopeful will be signed into law sometime this year.
“The legislation doesn't require either agency to really do anything different than they're doing now, but what it does do is it will ensure that people who are leaving prison 10 years from now, or 20 years from now, will get the same benefit of this program,” he said. “And so we think that's really important.”
