Winter 2026
Connecting through Faith: MDOC Religious Services
A chaplain at an MDOC facility has a lot of responsibilities; they oversee up to 26 different recognized religious practices, provide grief counseling, coordinate weddings, and facilitate religious diet offerings. Jude Siegel (at left) is the current acting chaplain at Parnall Correctional Facility (SMT), and she is dedicated to ensuring secure, meaningful religious services that allow men incarcerated there to connect with their faith.
She coordinates services for 20 different religions at SMT. That equals out to at least four services each day of the week! Luckily, SMT has a dedicated religious services building, providing religious groups a place to worship and find community.
Find a behind the scenes look at youtube.com/watch?v=NguvqrsKBrA.
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A Native American sage smudging ceremony taking place at Parnall Correctional Facility.
A/Chaplain Siegel is dedicated to coordinating with volunteer religious groups and monitoring services to maximize the benefits. She believes that attending services and practicing faith helps participants navigate the challenges of incarceration and provide connection to the greater world around them.
One way she has tangibly seen these benefits was while providing religious materials to participants in higher security units. She looked into the percent of the men in these units that they were regularly attending religious services – only 25% of them were. She uses this data to better understand those she serves and to show the power that faith and community can have on one’s actions. To learn more about religious services in MDOC, visit our Youtube by clicking the grahic below:
Video will open in a new window.
Agent Johnson has a Unique Perspective
Willie Johnson brings a multitude of experiences both from his 17-year career with MDOC and his personal story. First as a corrections officer at Macomb Correctional Facility, then an agent in Macomb County, and now an embedded agent in Wayne County. In his role, Agent Johnson partners with the Detroit Police Department to help ensure those under supervision are keeping themselves, and his community, safe.
He emphasizes building trust and promoting success in supervision, a connection to his personal experiences. Two of Willie's brothers have experienced incarceration in Michigan. He said they've each had experience with MDOC, but in different types and colors of uniforms. His brother successfully reentered a while ago, finding a good job and rebuilding relationships with his children. They're now developing a podcast together to share their perspectives from "both sides of the bars".
He prioritizes building trust with family members of those on parole and probation as they serve as a support system. He said it's quite possible that an offender might be living around the corner from his mom or his daughter, or somebody's mom or daughter. He wants them to be successful not just for themselves, but also to keep their neighborhoods safe. That means offering support and access to resources in as many ways possible.
What is in the Folder? Resources, Accomplishments, and Confidence
Employment Counselors, staff members of the department’s Offender Success administration, play a valuable role in providing individualized resources, compiling required information, and facilitating application processes to prepare incarcerated people for release. They play a really important role in making sure those being paroled or discharged have vital documents like state IDs, driver’s licenses, and social security cards.
Chris Dean is an employment counselor at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility who has developed a system for success during his 25 years working with offenders, ten years of which have been with MDOC.
Chris crafts individual folders for each man he works with at the facility. The folder contains vital documents like state IDs; record of their programing completion or certification of educational accomplishments such as a GED or post-secondary degrees; and results from WorkKeys and other evaluations. He also provides resources like CDL handbooks, county-specific contacts, and pathways to access benefits.
Counselor Dean meets with the men as they approach their release date to let them look through all their folder holds, ask any questions, and help fill in any gaps before they return to their communities. He says these “exit interviews” are very popular and help boost their confidence that they will be successful in the community.
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MDOC in the News: Highlighting a Recent Story
WZZM13: “The new red, white and blue license plates celebrating America's 250th anniversary are now in production at a correctional facility in Adrian.
‘MSI has been efficiently and effectively producing quality license plates for Michiganders for decades. I’m excited to see production begin on this patriotic version to celebrate our country’s semiquincentennial,’ said Director Heidi E. Washington. ‘Not only does this work provide Michigan drivers with popular legacy plates but also provides tangible manufacturing skills to incarcerated individuals who are employed in the license plate operation, giving them opportunities for employment upon release.’”
MDOC Minute: A Helpful Tip
Here are some of the roles our department is hiring for right now: food service cook, psychologist, plumber, dental hygienist, special education teacher, x-ray technician, chaplain, corrections officer, medical record examiner, office assistant. As you can see there is a wide range of careers available here.
Our careers page has now been updated with additional information about each category with buttons to see specific roles and apply. Take a look or send the link to someone you know who is looking for a new career! michigan.gov/corrections/careers.
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