Good Time Ballot Initiative Fails in Michigan, but Hope is Still Intac

 Despite the dedicated, hard work of many people, the grassroots effort in Michigan to collect enough signatures and put a good time proposal on the ballot this fall failed. While Michigan continues to be one of only a few states in America with no good time sentence reductions for prisoners, the momentum still exists for change. Michigan is, in fact, the only state to have no mechanism for sentence reductions, other than court ordered or by way of commutation, and both legislators and the public have begun to recognize the massive waste in spending such policies have led to. 

It's easy, as a Michigan prisoner, to be discouraged by yet another failure to make passage of a good time bill a reality in Michigan. Federal incentives for our so-called truth in sentencing statute ended in the year 2000, and the state's continued refusal to pass some form of good time legislation have likely cost it billions of dollars. Michigan's roads and infrastructure are crumbling, its schools are failing at alarming rates, and yet Michigan continues to hold fast to incarceration policies that make it one of the states with the highest incarceration rates. 

Nevertheless, I am not discouraged. I named this blog "Hope on the Inside" because of its double meaning: hope on the inside of prison, and hope on the inside of one's heart (mine in particular). Hope is an unusual sentiment in prison, particularly the active kind of hope I mean. But, I believe hope must be cultivated, stirred up, to remain alive. Prison itself provides no tools or fertilizer for hope. Those must be discovered and practiced on one's own or within like-minded communities. 

My hope has been planted and cultivated in my faith in God, and thus it is aimed at God. Sure, I would have liked good time legislation to pass, but I'm confident that God is present in my life and has a plan for me, whether I am in prison or out, whether I leave prison early or have to serve the remainder of my sentence. And that same faith motivates me to pursue healing, reconciliation, and restitution for the harms I've caused. 

Properly placed hope ensures that disappointments are temporary and not faith shaking or earth shattering. And it takes reminders from time to time to keep my hope properly placed. That's one of the important steps of keeping hope active--keeping it properly directed. I have enough time and experience in prison to know better than to put my faith in politicians, the justice system, or good time legislation.