For nearly three years, lawmakers needed to give a 72-hour advance notice if they wanted to inspect a correctional facility, reducing access to and oversight of the state’s prisons.

That delay has afforded the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) time to address or conceal issues that lawmakers may be looking to investigate, said state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia.

“We’re prevented from providing meaningful oversight of MDOC facilities if we have to announce when we’ll be attempting to do so,” Pohutsky said Thursday. “72 hours notice can and has allowed the department to address, often superficially, issues with facilities, or even to schedule appointments for inmates so that they cannot meet with their legislators.”

The MDOC rule requiring 72 hours notice before a lawmaker insp

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