How many prisons are in Kingston, Michigan? Kingston, Michigan, is a small town in Tuscola County, in the state’s southeastern part. While it may not be a major metropolitan area, Kingston is known for being home to several prisons.
It serves as a hub for the correctional system in Michigan. With its quiet streets and rural charm, it may surprise some that Kingston is host to several prison facilities.
These prisons play an essential role in the state’s criminal justice system, housing individuals convicted of various crimes. This article will explore how many prisons are located in Kingston, Michigan.
How Many Prisons Are In Kingston, Michigan?
There are two significant prisons in Kingston, Michigan. The area is well known for its prisons and other correctional facilities.
The region’s sparse population density provides a secure environment for correctional facilities and institutions to function, safeguarding the well-being of the nearby residents. The prisons include Camp Tuscola and Thumb Correctional Facility.
Camp Tuscola
Summer 2005 marked the closure of Camp Tuscola by the Michigan Department of Corrections. It reopened in October 2006 under the name Tuscola Residential Reentry Program to assist the Michigan Prisoner Reentry Program.
Camp Tuscola is a minimum-security facility for male offenders that fosters their development. This institution can house 256 inmates. While incarcerated, the offenders participate in vocational training and labour assignments.
According to the Department of Corrections, the program aims to enhance community safety. It helps support parolees in reintegrating into society by providing the necessary assistance.
The Tuscola Residential Reentry Program offers assistance to inmates in reintegrating into society. It may be difficult for formerly incarcerated individuals to reintegrate into society, but this facility facilitates that process.
Guided groups discuss a wide range of topics, including but not limited to domestic violence, substance abuse, parenthood, and financial matters.
Thumb Correctional Facility
Next to Camp Tuscola, the Thumb Correctional Facility falls under the Michigan Department of Corrections administration. This medium-level security operates exclusively on male inmates and can house 1,272 individuals.
The Movie Mayor of Kingston
Taylor Sheridan’s new Paramount+ drama, Mayor of Kingstown, which also stars Hugh Dillon, takes a dig at critiquing the American incarceration system.
Kingstown, Michigan serves as the narrative’s location and is a corporation community where being locked up is the primary business of the day.
Kingstown boasts of several prisons, both for men and women. Marc McLusky referred to them as lost individuals with no hope and future,
In “Mayor of Kingstown,” Jeremy Renner portrays Mike McClusky. He resides with his three siblings in the minuscule hamlet of Kingstown as the middle brother.
“This is a company town, and the industry here is jails,” says Mike. “There are seven correctional facilities within a 10-mile radius of the municipality, accommodating 20,000 individuals. Almost everyone is related to the prisons, working there, or serving a sentence.
Mike describes his older sibling Mitch as the town’s mayor. Mitch is the most influential organized criminal in Kingstown despite the city having its own elected mayor. Both parties of the law always have individuals wanting favors on both sides of the law.
Nothing works as it’s supposed to in Kingstown. Prison guards have prioritized exacting vengeance over assisting prisoners in reforming their behavior.
Additionally, the police and guards are more concerned with settling scores than monitoring the region’s organized crime syndicates, many of which have subsidiaries operating within correctional facilities.
Everyone is after money, everything is for sale, and no one is afraid to get their hands dirty. Mike, who doesn’t want to die anytime soon, is troubled every time they discover a body.
He wants to escape the town, explore the world, and cook in the wilderness. However, this is just a pipe dream, as nobody leaves Kingston.
Kingston, Ontario, in Canada
Mayor of Kingstown filming took place in Kingston, Ontario, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although the setting is the fictitious community of Kingstown, Michigan, the show’s inspiration comes from the actual city of Kingston, Ontario.
One of the show’s writers, Hugh Dillon, was born and raised in this Canadian municipality. His childhood experiences and observations in Kingston, a city replete with institutions, informed the development of several issues in the crime drama.
Much has changed regarding the program due to his reflections on his time there. Most of the first season was shot in the actual Kingston, including specific sequences within the fortified Kingston Penitentiary.
The historic first metropolis of Canada, Kingston, is a charming old town ideal for a weekend getaway. It is situated approximately at the midpoint between Toronto and Montreal.
Beautiful nineteenth-century structures, such as the Kingston City Hall on the lake, have earned the city the “Limestone City.”
Additionally, those with a penchant for wine can travel an hour or so to Frontenac County and Prince Edward County, home to acclaimed wineries. Kingston is the launching point for a day (or night) excursion of the picturesque 1000 islands in the summer.
Also, check out: Can felons vote in Michigan?
Prisons in Kingston, Michigan
Kingston has numerous correctional facilities, each with its own program offerings and level of security. Minimum-security prisons house inmates in dormitories and grant them greater latitude.
In contrast, medium and maximum security prisons confined inmates to cells or lockups at all times.
Kingston also houses correctional facilities catering to the requirements of individuals with unique challenges, such as substance abuse or mental illness, in addition to facilities specifically designed for young people and women.
While incarcerated in Kingston prisons, inmates are guaranteed a variety of fundamental liberties.
The rights include the right to access medical care, the right to prevent cruel and unusual treatment, the right to appear in court, and the right to file a complaint.
Family members may visit and correspond with them via mail or telephone, and offenders may occasionally participate in job programs and training.
However, they may be subject to a loss of certain privileges instead of retribution for misbehavior or disruptive behavior.
Additionally, incarcerated individuals in Kingston are permitted to observe their faith and attend religious services.
Religious leaders may visit them and read them religious texts. However, limited resources or security concerns could restrict access to these privileges.
Additionally, Kingston has implemented restorative justice practices in a subset of its prisons. This approach entails the active participation of the accused, the victim, and the community in addressing the repercussions of criminal behavior.
There are rehabilitation programs such as alcohol and drug treatment, stress management, and vocational training.
These programs aim to teach inmates habits and abilities that will facilitate their reintegration into society upon release.
However, a person may be unable to participate entirely in these programs if they misbehave, have a lengthy sentence, or have insufficient resources.
The impact of Kingston’s prisons on the local economy is significant, as they generate employment opportunities and spearhead local businesses.
The penitentiary system provides thousands of individuals with consistent employment and is one of Kingston’s largest employers.
A reentry program is also available within the city to assist formerly incarcerated individuals in reintegrating into society.
The program facilitates the reintegration of former offenders into their communities by providing job training, counseling, and additional services,
Some argue that the jail industry is an unethical means of stimulating the economy due to the profit it derives from the problems of others.
Although prisons are beneficial to the economy, they can have devastating consequences for the local community.
A negative public perception of a location can reduce its desirability to businesses and individuals seeking to reside or work there.
Additionally, a high incarceration rate can significantly disrupt the social cohesion of a community, causing divisions within families and localities via the criminal justice system.
Bonus article: Can a felon own a BB gun?
Michigan’s Jail Reforms
Local governments operated the facilities in Michigan until 2019, but legislators did not consider them significant.
However, it is noteworthy that state laws significantly impact both the quantity and duration of incarceration of individuals. Additionally, they ensure equitable treatment for all individuals, irrespective of their residence.
It endangers the public’s safety to have so many individuals incarcerated in Michigan while they await trial or serve sentences for
Most individuals with minor offenses, such as expired licenses, are serving time and pose little to no public safety threat.
A portion of them were incarcerated for months or even longer, depleting scarce resources such as space. Imprisoning an individual effectively isolates them from the public during the judicial process of the case.
A considerable number of individuals, nevertheless, find themselves incarcerated due to minor, nonviolent offenses, infractions of probation regulations, or mere nonattendance at court. That is not what jails were created for.
Jackson Institution, which has long been a community institution in South Central Michigan, has recently expanded its objective set to include the provision of four-year degrees.
Before the 1994 ban on Pell Grants for inmates, the school had a substantial program in jails. It resumed instructing classes in state jails in Michigan ten years ago at the request of the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Prisoners and their families paid registration for the initial courses. Approximately 450 individuals expressed interest in enrolling as students, but the admin could only secure 17 pupils for the inaugural session.
Nonetheless, charitable contributions funded the captives’ tuition, and the program continued to grow.
Conclusion
How many prisons are in Kingston, Michigan? Michigan is still transforming and implementing various prison reforms. They include reducing the inmate population, upholding the rights and freedoms of the inmates, allowing them to work, and setting aside resources to take care of them.
Further, states can benefit from Michigan’s efforts to enhance their criminal justice systems, provided that institutions continue to impose financial burdens on the government and improve prison inmates’ lives.
Leaders in other states can provide alternatives to incarcerated individuals for hundreds and make more efficient use of public safety resources. This is only possible by analyzing their county prisons and developing similar audacious, data-driven change concepts.
