Warden Michelle Floyd
3100 Cooper St.
Jackson, MI 49201
Directions (Bing Maps)
Telephone: 517-780-6175
Open: 1997
Gender/Age Limit: Males, 18 and older
Security Level: Secure Level I
This facility is the former Michigan Parole Camp in Jackson and is located across the street from the old State Prison of Southern Michigan. It was expanded, with an increase in security and capacity (1752 beds), to create a Secure Level I prison which opened in July of 1997.
Cooper Street also serves as a release facility for prisoners who are about to parole, discharge, or transfer to community center placement.
The facility is an active member of the Department's Community Liaison Committee in the Jackson County area and maintains open lines of communication between the community and prison administration.
Academic programming includes Adult Basic Education (ABE), General Education Degree (GED), higher education development and degrees from Jackson College, MSU Inside/Out Program and U of M Programming. Various religious organizations are available through outside volunteer’s assistance and inhouse chaplain. Other community organizations include PAWS for a cause, JCS Garden Program, Veterans, and Men of Merit. JCS offers the MDOC core evidence-based programming such as Advance Substance Abuse Treatment, MIVPP, Employment Readiness, Pre-Release, Michigan Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (MSAPP), Violence Prevention Program (VPP), and Thinking for a Change. Cooper Street Correctional Facility is designated as the In-Reach Facility for offenders who have been granted a P-70 parole that are returning to region 8: Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and Van Buren counties.
Routine medical and dental services are provided on site. Serious medical problems may be treated at either Duane L. Waters Health Center or Henry Ford Allegiance Hospital.
The Special Alternative Incarceration program (SAI) began in 1988 as an alternative to prison for male probationers convicted of certain crimes and selected by courts. In 1992 the program was expanded to include both male and female prisoners and probationers. In 2014, the female population was moved to Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility. State law precludes participation if convicted of a number of primarily assaultive crimes.
SAI is a regimented 90-day intensive program that focuses on changing negative behavior into socially acceptable behavior. The paramilitary discipline portion of the program is designed to break down streetwise attitudes, so staff can teach positive values and attitudes. SAI operates in three phases: Getting Ready, Going Home and Staying Home. Participation in each phase is the result of assessing each offender’s strengths and weaknesses using the Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) assessment and the Transition Accountability Plan (TAP) The Michigan Department of Corrections looks at incarceration in phases. From the time your family member is sentenced, the plan is to get them ready to come home. Phase I: Getting Ready is the time from sentence until approximately two months prior to release. Phase II: Going Home is approximately the last two months of incarceration and includes final preparations for release. Phase III: Staying Home includes the supervision phase of parole.
The Special Alternative Incarceration Program (SAI) is unique in the sense that it is a Phase I and Phase II facility. At SAI we help with offender success by focusing on training new strategies and techniques to deal with life’s challenges and help, each individual so they can become productive members of society. SAI is structured similarly to paramilitary training. Participants are not referred to as prisoners they are called “trainees”. Programming promotes a healthier lifestyle and teaches better decision-making skills. The program has proven to be cost-effective and successful in keeping graduates out of prison.
Phase I programming Cognitive Behavior Restructuring: Thinking Matters, Journaling and Cage Your Rage. These programs challenge the thought processes used when making decisions. Advanced Substance Abuse Therapy addresses addictions. Family/Community Structure: Premarital Interpersonal Choices and Knowledge (PICK a partner), Smart Steps for Step and In-Reach Services. Daily Living Skills: General Education Diploma (GED), Computer Lab, Employee Readiness, Public Works and Institutional Work Assignments. Self-Discipline: Interaction within a highly structured disciplined setting. Trainees rise at 6:00 A.M., attend programs and work assignments throughout the day and participate in physical training (exercise designed for the trainee’s physical ability.) Bed time is at 10:00 PM. There are no individual televisions, radios, games or other distractions that may prevent the trainees from learning and applying the skills they learn while incarcerated in the SAI Program. Trainees are challenged mentally, emotionally and physically while at SAI.
As a Secure Level I facility, JCS has two high chain-link fences, rolls of razor ribbon wire, a perimeter detection system, and an armed perimeter security vehicle (ARV) patrolling the outside grounds. There is also an alert response vehicle available for backup to the ARV if necessary.
