On June 18th close to 125 supporters attended a Juvenile Lifer rally in Detroit, Michigan. This meeting was conducted to promote a 10-point criminal justice reform package put together by the rally organizers. Numerous prisoner advocacy organizations, including Humanity for Prisoners, support this 10-point reform platform.
With an annual budget of over $2 billion for corrections spending in Michigan, and the sentencing laws and policies of Michigan ensuring an ever-growing population of incarcerated individuals, something must be done soon to stop the hemorrhaging of Michigan citizens' tax dollars. Smart prison and criminal justice reform will allow the State of Michigan to invest tax dollars in other much needed areas, including education, and infrastructure, while not increasing the state's crime rates. The 10-point platform includes:
1. Abolish life without parole (LWOP) sentences for all juvenile offenders and impose 25- to 60- year sentences on all juvenile lifers when they are resentenced.
2. Restore good time eligiblity so prisoners can earn early release for completion of rehabilitative programming and demonstration of positive behavior.
3. End truth in sentencing, which is largely responsible for maintaining a large prison population, despite a widely recognized consistent statistical drop in crime for several years.
4. End mandatory minimum sentences and give discretion to judges to impose sentences based on all the facts of an individual case since no two cases are the same.
5. Institute presumptive parole for prisoners who complete all program requirements and screen high probability of parole so prisoners are not arbitrarily denied paroles they have fairly earned.
6. Stop sending women to prison who have been the victims of violence for defending themselves against their abusers.
7. Increase rehabilitative programming opportunities for all prisoner demographics, including those serving long sentences since 95% of all prisoners will become returning citizens one day.
8. Allow the Parole Board to obtain jurisdiction over prisoners serving long indeterminate sentences and begin annually reviewing them for parole consideration after they have served 20 years.
9. Allow prisoners serving parolable life sentences to become eligible for parole/release annually after serving 20 years; and allow prisoners serving non-parolable life sentences to become eligible for parole/release annually after serving 25 years.
10. Reduce the exorbitant cost of prisoner phone calls from $0.20 per minute to $0.10 per minute to help prisoners maintain family and community ties and foster rehabilitation.
If you support these smart reforms, please register your support at the following website:
www.TinyURL.com/mipr2017
Also, please post a link to the above website on your social media urging other Michigan taxpayers to support these important criminal justice reform issues.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Safety or Accountability? Information Censorship in America
During the 2011 Arab Spring uprising in Egypt, the authoritarian powers chose to temporarily shut down the Internet in an attempt to stop the flow of information and to censor the anti-regime rhetoric that was spreading like wildfire. The Egyptian authorities mistakenly believed that censoring access to information could stop a revolution from occurring in their country. This attempt at information censorship was designed to prevent the public from holding the authorities accountable for their corruption.
Just last week another attempt at information censorship occurred. This time though, the censorship didn't occur in a repressive and authoritarian Middle Eastern country. It happened right here in Michigan.
Whenever a news story runs on local television that reflects badly in some way on the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), prisons often shut down the local news channels within the prison in an attempt to censor our access to information. This occurred several months ago when a prisoner died at one prison as a result of being tasered by a corrections officer. It also occurred this past week when a prisoner killed his bunkie at another prison. The department also cuts articles about the MDOC or about specific prisoners out of the newspapers before delivering them to prisoners who subscribe. Obviously, censoring the local news stations and cutting out articles does not keep us prisoners from hearing about what happened through other channels.
The MDOC may have different motives for their censorship than keeping us from holding them accountable. More than likely their reason involves security of the institution, preventing riots and protests within prison. Some of this is a hold-over from the department dealing with riots several decades ago. However, the department also knows that the public is less likely to care about a death or department error within a prison setting than do those of us in prison. They know that advocacy and activism that occurs outside of prison often starts with those of us on the inside.
Whether or not the department's concern is safety or simply protecting themselves from accountability, in 2017 information censorship should not be unfathomable within the United States--even in prison.
Just last week another attempt at information censorship occurred. This time though, the censorship didn't occur in a repressive and authoritarian Middle Eastern country. It happened right here in Michigan.
Whenever a news story runs on local television that reflects badly in some way on the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), prisons often shut down the local news channels within the prison in an attempt to censor our access to information. This occurred several months ago when a prisoner died at one prison as a result of being tasered by a corrections officer. It also occurred this past week when a prisoner killed his bunkie at another prison. The department also cuts articles about the MDOC or about specific prisoners out of the newspapers before delivering them to prisoners who subscribe. Obviously, censoring the local news stations and cutting out articles does not keep us prisoners from hearing about what happened through other channels.
The MDOC may have different motives for their censorship than keeping us from holding them accountable. More than likely their reason involves security of the institution, preventing riots and protests within prison. Some of this is a hold-over from the department dealing with riots several decades ago. However, the department also knows that the public is less likely to care about a death or department error within a prison setting than do those of us in prison. They know that advocacy and activism that occurs outside of prison often starts with those of us on the inside.
Whether or not the department's concern is safety or simply protecting themselves from accountability, in 2017 information censorship should not be unfathomable within the United States--even in prison.
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Extending Grace and Mercy Where it is Least Deserved
This past week Doug Tjapkes from Humanity for Prisoners came to speak to a small group of prisoners at the Handlon Correctional Facility where I am housed. Doug is one of a few big-hearted prisoner advocates who recognize that not all prisoners are guilty (he helped to free at least one prisoner), and that those who are guilty are still worthy of love.
Doug, and the volunteers who work with him, tirelessly help prisoners address medical and administrative issues when very few people care to make that investment. He and his volunteers also help lifer prisoners who are facing a public hearing or other prisoners who are preparing to see the parole board put their best foot forward.
One of the things that Doug said when he was here really stuck out to me. Doug is a Christian, and as such he often approaches churches about funding for his organization. Yet, according to Doug, very few churches are interested in helping prisoners, a class of people who Christians (and other religious people) have traditionally avoided. In my experience, there are plenty of large-hearted Christians who believe the Bible when it says to "remember the prisoners as if chained with them (Hebrews 13:3). But it is also my experience that there are plenty of Christians who would rather turn a blind eye to the dregs of society and stay in their safe, comfortable bubbles. It's a shame that Doug cannot find churches who are willing to be part of a ministry of help to people who do not deserve it. Bryan Stevenson, the author of Just Mercy, said that true mercy is that which is extended to those who do not deserve it. Christians would call this grace. Too many Christians want God's undeserved grace, but then they fail to extend it to others who likewise don't deserve it.
The fact is that helping prisoners in any way is culturally unpopular. It may also open one up to being taken advantage of. Some prisoners just want someone who will take care of their financial needs while they are incarcerated. But God does not call us to minister only where it is safe. He calls us to minister to those who are cultural pariahs. God has a heart for the marginalized of society. This means the fatherless, widows, foreigners, and yes, the prisoners. Before I came to prison, I was one of those comfortable "Christian" people who found ways to minister to others which felt safe. Now, I recognize the hypocrisy of this behavior. Showing grace and mercy to others is never safe; extending grace and mercy where it is not deserved always costs us something, but it is what we are called to do.
It is time for Christians to be characterized by compassion. Jesus was known for his compassion towards people who did not deserve it (in the culture's eyes). We too ought to open our hearts and minds to the example of Jesus in extending grace and mercy in ways that will shock cultural expectations. It is time for Christians to become a part of the redemptive work of Christ by reaching those who most need the redemption.
Doug, and the volunteers who work with him, tirelessly help prisoners address medical and administrative issues when very few people care to make that investment. He and his volunteers also help lifer prisoners who are facing a public hearing or other prisoners who are preparing to see the parole board put their best foot forward.
One of the things that Doug said when he was here really stuck out to me. Doug is a Christian, and as such he often approaches churches about funding for his organization. Yet, according to Doug, very few churches are interested in helping prisoners, a class of people who Christians (and other religious people) have traditionally avoided. In my experience, there are plenty of large-hearted Christians who believe the Bible when it says to "remember the prisoners as if chained with them (Hebrews 13:3). But it is also my experience that there are plenty of Christians who would rather turn a blind eye to the dregs of society and stay in their safe, comfortable bubbles. It's a shame that Doug cannot find churches who are willing to be part of a ministry of help to people who do not deserve it. Bryan Stevenson, the author of Just Mercy, said that true mercy is that which is extended to those who do not deserve it. Christians would call this grace. Too many Christians want God's undeserved grace, but then they fail to extend it to others who likewise don't deserve it.
The fact is that helping prisoners in any way is culturally unpopular. It may also open one up to being taken advantage of. Some prisoners just want someone who will take care of their financial needs while they are incarcerated. But God does not call us to minister only where it is safe. He calls us to minister to those who are cultural pariahs. God has a heart for the marginalized of society. This means the fatherless, widows, foreigners, and yes, the prisoners. Before I came to prison, I was one of those comfortable "Christian" people who found ways to minister to others which felt safe. Now, I recognize the hypocrisy of this behavior. Showing grace and mercy to others is never safe; extending grace and mercy where it is not deserved always costs us something, but it is what we are called to do.
It is time for Christians to be characterized by compassion. Jesus was known for his compassion towards people who did not deserve it (in the culture's eyes). We too ought to open our hearts and minds to the example of Jesus in extending grace and mercy in ways that will shock cultural expectations. It is time for Christians to become a part of the redemptive work of Christ by reaching those who most need the redemption.
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