Michigan Prisoners Carefully Follow Michigan's Gubernatorial Race

Many of Michigan's prisoners, regardless of political affiliation, were anxiously watching to see the results of the recent primary election for who will be the parties' primary gubernatorial candidates. As the results came in, a collective groan could be felt reverberating throughout the institution. Normally, most prisoners are uninterested in politics, except to complain about politicians who fail to support prison reform, but as this primary election drew near, many prisoners began to realize that Michigan's next governor could very well alter the course of Michigan's prison reform trajectory.

Michigan's governor has the power to appoint the director of the Department of Corrections, so a change in governorship will likely result in a change in Directorship. The current Director, Heidi Washington, has proven to be reform-minded, implementing three Vocational Villages throughout the system in an attempt to better prepare prisoners for work upon release from prison. Additionally, it was under Director Washington's leadership that the Calvin Prison Initiative was started, and she has proven an ardent supporter of not only this amazing educational program for selected prisoners, but other educational opportunities as well. 

Some of Michigan's lawmakers are pushing for prison and criminal justice reforms because of the Department of Correction's burgeoning budget, but sentencing reforms, good time proposals, and rehabilitative programs are often unpopular with the public, many of whom have bought into tough on crime messages over the last several decades. Nevertheless, the exorbitant costs associated with long prison sentences and studies that have shown the ineffectiveness, and even long-term damage, of long prison sentences are beginning to push some reluctant lawmakers to consider reforms. Social pressure and even high court decisions have also begun to shift the tide on some sentencing issues, not the least of which is whether or not juvenile defendants should be mandatorily sentenced to Life in prison. 

In 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against mandatory Life sentences for juvenile defendants, but Michigan's Attorney General, Bill Schutte, has fought hard to keep Michigan's more than 350 juvenile lifers in prison. It is precisely this hard line view that has made many prisoners nervous about the potential for a "Governor Schutte." Clearly, regardless of the politically expedient messages Schutte might make regarding criminal justice and prison reforms, his actions concerning juvenile lifers, especially, highlight the fact that he is not in favor of smart on crime policies or correcting unconstitutional abuses of power. 

Michigan's only other likely candidate for Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has expressed support for criminal justice reforms, but has been reluctant to specify what reforms she actually supports. Whether her reluctance is due to political maneuvering or because she does not actually support any real reforms is unclear. What many prisoners fear, however, is that whichever candidate becomes our next governor, the gubernatorial support for resurrecting good time or disciplinary credits and expanding rehabilitative programming is looking unlikely. We can only hope that social pressure and federal prison reforms will both influence Michigan's next governor to take seriously the need for both sentencing reforms and the need to reduce the prison population through smart policies, like good time or disciplinary credits, that reward prisoners for positive self-directed rehabilitation.