Early on during this pandemic, the thoughtful folks at AFSC-Michigan, and here at Safe & Just Michigan, had an idea to create a safe space for families and loved ones of men and women incarcerated. As prisons ended visits out of COVID-19 fears, we wanted to create a space for people who might want a [...]
Employers shouldn’t shun job applicants who have been incarcerated or who have criminal convictions on their records, leading human resource experts said during a webinar co-hosted Wednesday by SHRM — the Society for Human Resource Management — and Safe & Just Michigan, a Lansing, Mich.-based organization that advances criminal justice reforms. The event, titled “Best [...]
The 2020 election is shaping up to be an historic event. We are now just days away from Election Day, and already, many political commentators are expecting to see record voter turnout. This is a great thing, because the more people who vote, the more voices that are heard. Having a Criminal Record is Not [...]
It has only been a couple months since I took part in the Juvenile Lifers Summer Camp retreat. However, during this pandemic, time has somehow seemed to have slowed a bit. I was a little bummed because my friend Walter had informed me that he could not attend the latest Metal Health Art Workshop because [...]
Last week, Safe & Just Michigan released its first report in five years! Our new report examines the 40-year history of the felony firearm statute and the effect it has had on Michigan residents and prisons. Michigan’s felony firearm statute makes it a crime for a person to be in possession of a firearm during [...]
We are less than three weeks away from an historic election — are you ready to vote? Perhaps you have already? Maybe you’re wondering if it’s too late to register? Or maybe you don't even think you can vote because of a criminal record? We don’t know how any of the many contests currently underway [...]
We are now 46 days away from a historic election. Here in Michigan, having a felony or misdemeanor conviction on your record is no barrier to voting, so long as you’re not currently incarcerated and serving a sentence. That means that the moment you leave jail or prison, you can vote. If you’re on probation [...]
People who have been incarcerated routinely struggle with employment barriers, including a jobless rate that hovered around 25 percent before the COVID-19 crisis hit, according to the Prison Policy Institute. Faced with unemployment rates the nation has not seen since the Great Depression and employer policies tilted against hiring people with a criminal record, thousands of [...]
It’s no secret by now that 2020 is an unusual year. From the way we work to the way we send kids to school, and even the way we keep in touch with loved ones who are incarcerated, nearly everything we do is being done differently this year. So hopefully, it won’t come as a [...]
Juvenile lifers Trauma Summer Camp: healing reimagined. With the alarm ringing at 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning, I am thinking to myself, "I still have to pack and load my truck and pick up Walter by 6:15 so we can be in Ann Arbor by 7.” Walter is a friend from the [...]