Office of Community Corrections

Community Corrections Background

Implementation of a formalized community corrections program in Michigan began as a response to an increasing prison population and associated costs with this growth that Michigan experienced beginning in the late 1980s. Michigan legislators passed Public Act 511, known as the Community Corrections Act, in 1988 as a response to the growth in the state prison commitment rate.

Kent County Correctional Facility

The Michigan Office of Community Corrections (MOCC), housed within the Michigan Department of Corrections, was established with the passage of PA 511 with the responsibility of reducing prison admissions, gaining better utilization of county jail facilities across Michigan, and improving treatment programming provided to those supervised by the Michigan Department of Corrections.

In order to assist MOCC with these objectives, PA 511 also provided the authorization for counties in Michigan to establish local Community Corrections Advisory Boards (CCAB) with membership consisting of local criminal justice and community stakeholders. With the establishment of a CCAB, counties could apply for grant funding through MOCC to assist in the implementation of community corrections programming at the county level. Kent County established a CCAB during 1989/1990 in response to the jail overcrowding being experienced by the Kent County Correctional Facility (KCCF) at that time. The first year that Kent County applied for community corrections funding was in 1990.

The Kent County Office of Community Corrections (Kent County OCC) was created with PA 511 funds awarded to Kent County in order to administer and guide the CCAB's comprehensive community corrections plan. Kent County OCC staff members hold a number of responsibilities that include, as examples, monitoring of funded programming to ensure contract compliance as well as partnering with agencies receiving Kent County OCC funds to provide services that assist the Kent County CCAB in meeting established goals related to the reduction of prison commitments and jail utilization. Through the collaborative efforts undertaken by stakeholders including Kent County OCC staff, CCAB members and committees, and Kent County OCC-funded agencies:

  • Kent County has witnessed a decrease in its prison commitment rate from 29% in 1993 (the first full year for which sentencing data exists) to 22.1% in 2021.
  • Kent County continues to see a decrease in the prison commitment rates of specific offender populations through the provision of OCC-funded services. For example, the overall prison commit rate for Straddle Cell offenders has decreased from 54.5% during 2013 to 37.3% during 2021.