The abandoned Standish Maximum Correctional Facility, located 35 miles north of Bay City, may go up for sale under a bill, HB 4011, introduced last week in the Michigan House of Representatives.
State Representative Mike Hoadley (R-Au Gres), the bill’s sponsor, said he wants the state to sell the prison so it can serve a new purpose for the region.
The prison, which is maintained by the Michigan Department of Corrections, has been vacant since October 2009 after 19 years in operation.
“Whenever we can take an existing property and repurpose it, it keeps our area vibrant while providing the potential for additional services and job opportunities,” Hoadley said in a written statement. “I am hopeful we can move it forward and bring a resolution to the site that is long overdue.”
It’s unclear what the prison could become if it’s put on the open market. Hoadley said selling the prison is the first step in what would likely be a long process for a buyer to develop the property.
For Hoadley, he would like to see the prison transformed into a multi-use healthcare facility to help address the lack of bed space for people seeking mental healthcare across the state. The prison includes five 88-bed housing units and another section of can hold 164 beds.
The prison, located in the city of Standish, is sandwiched between I-75 and US-23, a location, Hoadley said, is ideal for his vision.
According to a January 2025 report from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Michigan is in need of 29 beds for adults and 14 beds for children in need of in-patient psychiatric treatment.
In recent years, several healthcare professionals, business owners and community leaders have toured the abandoned prison during an event organized by Hoadley to kickstart a community conversation about how the prison could be transformed.
Arenac County Sheriff Jim Mosciski was a part of those initial conversations and told WCMU back in July he would like the prison to not only offer mental healthcare, but also serve as a juvenile detention center for the region.
Mosciski, along with neighboring rural county sheriffs' departments, often rely on detention centers in the Tri-Cities or Flint to transfer juveniles who've been detained.
“I mean, look at the room you’ve got. You could, actually split this up," Mosciski said while walking around the dilapidated prison. "Look at the money we got sitting here deteriorating, that the state of Michigan is just let go down to waste. I’m figuring this is waste.”
In some cases, Mosciski said he’s taken people in need of mental healthcare as far as Alpena, which is 100 miles from Standish.
The ideas for the prison's makeover seem endless, according to other stakeholders.
“We need tangible jobs, we need things that can be career based, career focused, whether that's healthcare, behavioral health, or infrastructure jobs,” said George Olson, president and CEO of the Sterling Area Health Center, which offers a variety of healthcare services across Bay, Arenac, Ogemaw and Iosco Counites.
Olson also toured the abandoned prison to consider the its potential and said his organization is willing to be involved in reimaging the space.
“If somebody comes in with a two or three-year plan, I think that's very short-sighted,” Olson said. “I think people need to be talking in terms of decades and phases that truly has a great impact and not just Standish and Arenac County, but the region as a whole.”
During last year’s legislative session, the bill received unanimous support in committee hearings, but never made it to the full House for a vote.
Hoadley said the bill has bipartisan support from lawmakers going into the new session and is backed by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget and Department of Corrections.
