How Michigan jails are organized
Each county in Michigan runs its own jail, and each has its own page here. Detroit is Wayne County. The northern suburbs are Oakland; the east is Macomb — three different jails for one media market. Grand Rapids is Kent. Lansing is Ingham. Ann Arbor is Washtenaw. Flint is Genesee. Kalamazoo is Kalamazoo County. Upper Peninsula counties (Marquette, Delta) are a different travel plan. Lansing is the state capital, but arrests are booked in the county where they happen.
Sheriffs run county jails. MDOC (Jackson complex, Women’s Huron Valley, Bellamy Creek) is prison. Detroit Detention Center / city lockups are not the Wayne County Jail roster until the county books them. This site currently has live roster pages for 4 of 83 counties (4 jail pages, 526 records tracked). The other 79 counties have a jail information page with lookup steps and contacts; until a roster feed is connected, the sheriff or detention center is the official source for who is in custody there.
Finding someone in a Michigan jail
Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb publish inmate information. Northern and UP counties may be thinner. No statewide sheriff merge. If you know the county, open its roster above and search by name or charge. If you only know the city of arrest, find which county the city is in first.
Circuit court is the felony court in the county. 36th District in Detroit is not Oakland County Circuit in Pontiac. A Southfield arrest can still be Oakland, not Wayne. The courthouse and the jail are often in different buildings. Confirm the facility name on the booking paperwork or with the attorney before you travel.
Bond, visits and money in Michigan
Bond shops work county by county. A Macomb bondsman may not post Oakland. Weekend magistrate practice varies with county size. Bond amounts shown on a roster can change after the first court appearance. CurrentPrisonList does not post bail or accept payments.
Wayne County’s downtown complex is not Oakland’s Pontiac-area jail. The Ambassador Bridge is Canada — Windsor is not this roster. Video vendors differ. Dress codes, video-visit providers and appointment times are set by each jail. Check the sheriff's website on the day of the visit.
Travel and common mistakes in Michigan
DTW for Wayne and much of the metro. GRR for Kent. FNT for Genesee. A Canadian crossing does not create a Michigan visit permit. Take the jail address from the sheriff's website or from the contact section of the county page, not from a generic map search.
A common mistake: searching “Detroit inmate” for an Oakland or Macomb booking, or mixing MDOC Jackson with the county jail. Neighboring states have their own state pages on this site.