The Michigan Reformatory was a state prison for men located in

Ionia Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...

Ionia County, Michigan Ionia County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 66,804. The county seat is Ionia. The Ionia County Courthouse was designed by Claire Allen, a prominent southern Michigan architect. Ioni ...

, owned and operated by the

Michigan Department of Corrections The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) oversees prisons and the parole and probation population in the state of Michigan, United States. It has 31 prison facilities, and a Special Alternative Incarceration program, together composing appr ...

. The facility has 352 beds at Level II security and 797 beds at Level IV security. The Reformatory was first opened in 1877 and housed "high-risk offenders". It closed in 2000 with the opening of the nearby

Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility (IBC) is a prison in Ionia for men, run by the Michigan Department of Corrections. Facility The prison was opened in December 2001 and is a multi-level facility used for Michigan Department of Corrections male p ...

, then was reopened in 2007. A Michigan House Appropriation Subcommittee recommended its closure again in 2012. The Michigan Reformatory closed in November 2022 as inmate numbers continue to decline. Inmates were spread around the area and relocated.

1981 Riot

On the night of May 22, 1981 a riot broke out at a cellblock housing about 500 inmates. 100 corrections officers and state police contained the inmates with tear gas. Three or four corrections officers were reported slightly injured in the disturbance, which began about 8:10 P.M. Arson, looting and vandalism, began shortly after damaging 30 buildings.

References

{{State prisons in Michigan Prisons in Michigan Buildings and structures in Ionia County, Michigan 1877 establishments in Michigan