Michigan prisoners make 12,000 license plates a day — and $1.31 per hour

Michigan inmates make all state license plates, in addition to street signs and more.
Workers earn well under two dollars an hour for the labor, but the state touts ‘marketable’ skills they develop along the way
Advocates say prisoners should be paid more for labor that does not guarantee them a job upon release

In a factory in southeast Michigan, metal sheets move down a production line and are transformed into the kind of license plates that adorn millions of vehicles across the state.

This factory is unique, however: It’s inside the Gus Harrison Correctional Facility in Adrian, a state prison where roughly 40 minimum-security inmates work.

There, inmates make all Michigan license plates and recently began producing a new one marking the nation’s 250th birthday. The semiquincentennial design draws inspiration from the red, white and blue plates issued for the 1976 bicentennial.

The operation is part of Michigan State Industries, a prison job program that aims to lower recidivism by giving inmates practical skills – like machinery operation, computer use, teamwork and punctuality — they can use after release.

Jobs at the license plate factory are among the highest-paying jobs at the Gus Harrison Correctional Facility, Joe Downard, plant manager for the factory, told Bridge Michigan.

Related:

Pay starts at 65 cents an hour, and inmates can earn up to $1.31 at the factory, which generated a $215,769 gross margin in the 2025 fiscal year, the Michigan Department of Corrections confirmed.

“They come over here, they do their work and they appreciate the work they do. They know they’re (contributing) to society because somebody has to make the license plates,” Downard said.

Prison advocates acknowledge the jobs are a learning opportunity but argue inmates should be paid more for work that benefits the state and does not necessarily guarantee them a job upon release.

“People inside prison should actually be paid the same fair wages as people who would normally have those jobs in society and that would eliminate a lot of the problems with people not being able to pay fines and fees,” said Hakim Crampton, legislative government liaison for Michigan Citizens for Prison Reform.

Michigan is no outlier when it comes to prison wages, however. In Illinois, inmates earn between 13 to 39 cents an hour and up to $2.40 an hour for higher-paying jobs, according to a 2021 report from the American Civil Liberties Union. In Indiana, inmates earn between 12 and 55 cents an hour.

A need being met

The Adrian prison factory produces between 12,000 and 16,000 license plates each day. Customized plates are shipped to Lansing every other day, and on Wednesdays a UPS truck delivers plates to Secretary of State branches across the state.

It’s a job that requires some skill, said Downard, who told Bridge that he and other supervisors tried to make plates during COVID when prisoners were not working but “struggled a lot.”

According to the state, inmates who work at the license plate factory develop several “marketable skills,” including “soft skills” like working with others, and job-specific skills like machine operation and repair.

“Many companies have reached out to our factory in search of our highly skilled inmates for employment,” the Department of Corrections said in a recent report prepared for state legislators.

michigan prison jobs — Inmates who work in Michigan prison factories also produce shoes, clothes, street signs, mattresses and more. (Courtesy of Michigan Department of Corrections)

The license plate factory is one of 12 factories that operate inside of nine state prisons under the Michigan State Industries’ job program.

“We have a factory that makes US flags in Ionia that’s pretty awesome,” said Heidi E. Washington, director of the MDOC. “Most people aren’t aware of the types of things that the prisoners are engaged in and doing inside.”

At the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, inmates who work at The Sign Shop produce road signs, trail signs, labels, banners and decals for the state and county road commissions.

Other MSI factories, where inmates can earn as little as 35 cents an hour, produce shoes, mattresses and clothes for other inmates and correctional officers.

‘Transferrable skills’

While inmates can earn up to $1.31 at the factory while learning how to operate a forklift, they could earn between $15.38 and $22.29 an hour for that same skill outside prison.

But they are also “being provided their room and board, healthcare and all of the things the department provides to house them,” Washington said. “They are working inside our facilities and they are paid according to the pay scale but all of their other needs are being met by the department.”

Advocates say low pay and limited opportunities to use skills after release create a gap between the work they do inside and the life they face outside prison walls, where they’re not guaranteed employment or an easy transition.

“The License Plate Factory and some of the other stamping factories do have what would be considered transferable skills upon release … which are essential for the workforce out here,” said Crampton, with Michigan Citizens for Prison Reform.

“You have to remember that they’re not immediately transferable skills because (inmates) have to get around the reentry process of being employable as a felon.”

Michigan 250 plates — Inmates recently started making a new license plate commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary, with a design inspired by the red, white and blue plates from the 1976 bicentennial.
(Courtesy of the Michigan Department of Corrections)

The state has taken steps to try to ease that process in recent years.

In 2018, then-Gov. Rick Snyder issued a “ban-the-box” directive, which discouraged employers from automatically rejecting applicants with a criminal record and required them to wait until the first interview to ask about criminal history.

Two years later, Gov. Whitmer signed the Clean Slate Act, which automatically expunged eligible misdemeanors after seven years and felonies after 10 years.

“In between the time they get out and the seven years, that skill set has not evolved and it’s not necessarily immediately transferable because of the way technology advances,” Crampton said. “A skill set that they used 10 years ago in prison may not be applicable anymore.”

Michigan does not allow private, for-profit companies to operate inside prisons, but programs certified by the federal Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program allow state agencies to sell “prison-made” goods and services across the country.

In other states, prisons allow private companies, not regulated by PIECP, to employ inmates to make goods, which can only be sold in the state.

“I would like to see a lot of these factories who are in desperate need of employees, shift to working with the Department of Corrections to bring their factories on the inside, but be willing to pay fair, livable wages,” Crampton said.