Michigan is helping people who were detained at the Wayne County jail obtain driver’s licenses or state identification cards, a move advocates say will increase the odds they land on their feet as they return to society.
It’s an expansion of a program Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson first launched at state prisons in 2020 and more recently expanded to jails in Kent, Ingham, Genesee and Washtenaw counties.
“People deserve to be able to move forward after serving their time. Having an ID is a critical first step,” Benson said in a press conference. “You need an ID to apply for a job. You need an ID for housing. You need an ID to enroll in education and training programs.”
To date, the program has helped roughly 20,000 people who were incarcerated get a driver’s license or state ID upon their release, according to Benson’s office.
The jail in Wayne County, the state’s largest county, typically holds between 1,300 and 1,500 people on any given day. About 60% of the people incarcerated there last week did not have a valid state ID, according to Sheriff Raphael Washington.
