ADRIAN, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — As Michigan rolls out a limited-edition license plate for America’s upcoming 250th birthday, every one of them is being made in the same place as the rest of the state’s plates: inside a southeast Michigan prison.

At the Gus Harrison Correctional Facility in Adrian, approximately 40 inmates are now producing the limited-edition “semiquincentennial” license plate, alongside the standard plates issued statewide.

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The work is handled through Michigan State Industries, the prison labor program run by the Michigan Department of Corrections.

Inmates earn between 65 cents and $1.31 an hour, placing the license plate factory among the higher-paying jobs available inside the facility. According to the department, the operation generated a $215,769 gross margin in fiscal year 2025.

Plant manager Joe Downard told Bridge Michigan the process requires precision and consistency, noting that production slowed significantly when inmate labor paused during the COVID-19 shutdown.

“Somebody has to make the license plates,” Downard said.

State officials say the anniversary plate follows the same production pipeline as standard issues, with plates shipped regularly to Lansing and Secretary of State branches across Michigan—just with a patriotic redesign tied to the 250th milestone.