People, not rows
Use language and interface choices that resist turning public records into spectacle.
People Not Numbers / Public-data publication
People Not Numbers
Inside Michigan turns hard-to-use Michigan corrections records into a humane research interface built around context, restraint, and reform-minded design.
Mission
Replace friction with context, not spectacle.
The source system was built for lookup. Inside Michigan is being built for understanding: aggregate views, careful search, humanizing language, and clear limits around what public records can and cannot prove.
This is not an official government service or legal authority. It is a public-data research layer intended to make institutional data more legible and less casually dehumanizing.
Photos withheld
Photos are not the center of the product, and public photo routes stay blocked in staging.
Data with limits
Show scope, methodology, and uncertainty clearly; do not claim more than the data supports.
Methodology
Scope, limits, and dignity are part of the product.
The interface should make it obvious when a number is aggregate, when a record is individual, and when a conclusion would go beyond the public source material.
During staging, the safest public posture is simple: no crawler indexing, no public photo routes, no unsupported claims, and no official-government framing.
Frontend
Dashboard, lookup, reform, movements, ask, and methodology routes prepared for local tunnel hosting
Photos
Public photo access blocked by default
Indexing
Public pages indexable; lookup and API routes stay noindex
Launch
Production build verified; Cloudflare routing tracked in the shared launch manifest