The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has reversed its position and now says it will allow an anti-death penalty minister inside the execution chamber for an upcoming execution.

A jury has ruled in favor of the state Corrections Department in a trial about work opportunities for male officers at Michigan’s only prison for women.

“These staff shortages are making life immeasurably worse for inmates," said Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor.

LANSING, Mich. – Visitors will be allowed at Michigan prisons for the first time in a year, the Corrections Department said Friday. Physical contact between prisoners and visitors will be prohibited. “Connections with family and the community lead to greater offender success," department Director Heidi Washington said. More than 25,000 prisoners have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic; 139 have died. There were 788 active cases Wednesday, the Corrections Department said, including 615 at Bellamy Creek in Ionia and Egeler in Jackson.

JACKSON, Mich. – Three Corrections Department officers who were killed on duty, including one in 1893, have been honored with memorial signs along Interstate 94 in Jackson County. “To me, it's a bittersweet day,” Paul Ajegba, director of the Transportation Department, said at an event Monday. But it's sweet in the sense that we're recognizing their service to the state of Michigan.”George Haight, a veteran of the Civil War, died in 1893. He was the first prison employee to be killed in the line of duty when an inmate poisoned his food. “It is out of duty that we not forget those that serve and have given the ultimate in sacrifice,” state Rep. Julie Alexander said.

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan lawmakers Wednesday swiftly proposed and passed a $62.7 billion budget that will keep spending flat thanks to a federal rescue and avoid major cuts that had been feared due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the $17.6 billion education budget, which the Senate and House approved 36-1 and 103-2, K-12 will see a 1.4% funding boost. In the $45.1 billion general budget, the governor and lawmakers agreed to restore funding she had vetoed in March to save money due to the pandemic. Departments will trim a total of $250 million, largely through reductions in the multibillion-dollar Medicaid budget that will not directly affect services, said state spokesman Kurt Weiss. As part of the federal relief package, the state government received $3 billion in assistance.