Every Visit Matters: Why We’re Asking Michigan Families to Share Their Visitation Experiences

For more than a decade, visitation has been one of Citizens for Prison Reform’s highest advocacy priorities.

We have heard countless stories from families who spend hours driving across Michigan for a visit that lasts only a short time. Grandparents who make the trip despite health challenges. Parents trying to preserve relationships between children and an incarcerated loved one. Spouses who rearrange work schedules, take time off work, and absorb significant travel expenses simply to spend a few meaningful hours together.

These visits matter.

Research has consistently shown that maintaining strong family connections supports rehabilitation, improves institutional behavior, and contributes to successful reentry. Families are not simply visitors. They are an essential part of an incarcerated person’s support system before, during, and after incarceration.

The stories we’ve already received reinforce what the research has long shown.

One family member shared:

“Visits from family members and children are huge in the rehabilitation process. Family connection is very important.”

Others described the impact of reduced visitation in just a single word:

“Heartbreaking.”

“Devastating.”

These are more than survey responses. They represent real families working to maintain relationships despite the many barriers they face.

Yet visitation has never fully recovered following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Lifers of America has collected visitation surveys from incarcerated individuals throughout Michigan. Those surveys describe many of the same concerns our organization has been hearing from families for years, including reduced visitation opportunities, inconsistent practices between facilities, scheduling challenges, and barriers that make maintaining family relationships unnecessarily difficult.

Now we want to hear directly from the people sitting on the other side of the visiting room.

Citizens for Prison Reform has launched a statewide Family Visitation Survey to better understand the experiences of families visiting loved ones in the Michigan Department of Corrections. Whether your experiences have been positive, challenging, or somewhere in between, your voice matters.

We’re especially interested in hearing about:

• Changes in visitation since COVID

• Scheduling challenges

• Long travel distances

• Consecutive visitation opportunities

• Accessibility for children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities

• Visiting room conditions

• Communication with facilities

• The financial and emotional impact of maintaining family contact

The survey is completely confidential. You may answer as many or as few questions as you wish, and you may remain anonymous if you choose. Any contact information you provide will remain confidential and will only be used by Citizens for Prison Reform if we need clarification or if you would like assistance through our Family Participation Program.

Our goal is not simply to collect stories. It is to ensure those stories help shape meaningful policy.

We are using this information, together with the work of the National Lifers of America, to develop a comprehensive set of visitation policy recommendations for the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Michigan Legislature. Those recommendations will focus on practical, evidence-based improvements that strengthen family connections and support the goals of MDOC’s Family Reunification Policy by creating greater opportunities for family engagement throughout incarceration.

Family connection is about far more than visitation.

It is about giving children the opportunity to know their parents. It is about preserving marriages and family bonds. It is about supporting rehabilitation, strengthening communities, and preparing people for successful reentry.

Every completed survey helps us better understand where improvements can be made and strengthens our ability to advocate for meaningful change.

If you have visited a loved one in an MDOC facility, we invite you to share your experience.

Take the Family Visitation Survey here:

https://form-usa.keela.co/mdoc-family-visitation-survey

Because every voice matters.

Because every family matters.

And because stronger family connections create stronger futures.

Learn More: Research on Family Connection and Rehabilitation

A growing body of research has found that maintaining family connections during incarceration is associated with improved institutional behavior, stronger family relationships, and more successful reentry outcomes.

National Institute of Corrections – Engaging Families in Reentry
https://nicic.gov/resources

Vera Institute of Justice – A New Role for Technology? Implementing Video Visitation in Prison
https://www.vera.org/publications/video-visitation-in-prison

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management – Does Visitation in Prison Reduce Recidivism? (2024)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.22529

Minnesota Department of Corrections – The Effects of Prison Visitation on Offender Recidivism (widely cited study)
https://mn.gov/doc/assets/11-11PrisonVisitationStudy_tcm1089-272781.pdf

The Urban Institute – Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry
https://www.urban.org/research/publication/understanding-challenges-prisoner-reentry