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United States · MI · Jackson

G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility

Medium SecurityMediummaleUnder capacity (89%)LowHigh
Verified
Aging · 4mo ago
Sources last reviewed on

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

For families

How to send mail, money, and visit G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility

Step-by-step guidance using the United States system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.

Open toolkit

G Robert Cotton Correctional Facility is a state prison located in Jackson County, Michigan. Rated capacity: 1,842. Reported population: 1,796. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.

Background

The G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility is a state prison for men located in Blackman Charter Township, Jackson County, Michigan, owned and operated by the Michigan Department of Corrections. It has a Jackson postal address. This facility dates from 1985. Cotton, which is an inmate educational facility, is one portion of the former Michigan State Prison, described as the largest walled prison in the world as late as 1981, when it was rocked by extensive, damaging riots. The prison was divided in 1988 into smaller institutions.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

2,016

Current population

1,796

Occupancy

89%

Year opened

1985

Operational

Figures from official sources · verified 16 Jun 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Population held

male

Opened

1985

Region

MI

Security level

Medium

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

No major issues documented in our database.

Notable inmates

  • Shelly Brooks
    1969 · serial killer

    Shelly Andre Brooks (born January 22, 1969) is an American serial killer who murdered at least seven women in Detroit, Michigan, from 2001 to 2006.

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

3500 N Elm Rd, Jackson 49201
(517) 780-5000
Official site

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

0/100
Low concern0/100
Overcrowding
0/30
Oversight reports
0/30
Structural flags
0/15
Death signals
0/15
Conditions text
0/10

This facility scores 0. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 2 points below national average.

Related facilities

All in United States →

Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.

Compared to other facilities in United States

7436 peers
Occupancythis: 89% · peers avg: 93% (4%)
Capacity (beds)this: 2016 · peers avg: 547 (+269%)

Data completeness

74%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/g-robert-cotton-correctional-facility
Chicago
"G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/g-robert-cotton-correctional-facility.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-g-robert-cotton-correctiona,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/g-robert-cotton-correctional-facility},
  urldate = {2026-10-20}
}