In this article we investigate the regularizing properties of generalized continua of Cosserat micropolar type in the elasto-plastic case. We propose an extension of classical infinitesimal elasto-plasticity to include consistently non-dissipative micropolar effects. It is shown that the new model is thermodynamically admissible and allows for a unique, global-in-time solution of the corresponding rate-independent initial–boundary-value problem. The method of choice is the Yosida approximation and a passage to the limit.