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Featured Blogs
Safe house: crime survivors need secure, affordable housing
Kimberly Cole is haunted by the memory of the young woman who came to her asking for help with her apartment manager. Cole is an instructor with St. Luke’s New Life Center in Flint, an [...]
Objective parole bill passes out of full Senate
Objective parole is one step away from becoming law in Michigan after it sailed through the Senate committee hearing and a full vote of the Senate in single day on Sept. 5, 2018. Objective parole [...]
Clean Slate in Penn state
Lawmakers, community leaders, business advocates and even sports figures agree that thriving communities are at their best when all people who live in them are able to seek meaningful employment and obtain safe housing. It [...]
History of the felony firearm law
Michigan’s felony firearm law is one of the few offenses in our state that carry a mandatory minimum prison sentence. The law imposes a mandatory sentence of at least two years for possessing a firearm [...]
A Brief History of Expungement in Michigan
A person’s criminal history can unfairly hold them back from important life opportunities in employment, housing or other areas for years — and even decades — after they have paid their debt to society. Michigan [...]
Understanding the link between housing and the formerly incarcerated
Being released from prison should have been the end of a long, difficult chapter in Jarrett Ruffin’s life and the start of a much easier one. Instead, when Ruffin was released in 2003, he found [...]
Ojibway prison slated for closure
Yesterday, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) announced the closure of the Ojibway Correctional Facility located in Gogebic County. The nearly 50-year-old facility, originally a camp, was converted to a prison in 2000. The correctional [...]
Continued advocacy to stop proposed Medicaid rules
In April and May, we reported that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) had proposed rules that would exclude thousands of people from work as or for a provider of Medicaid services. [...]
Felony firearm in Michigan: A case study in what’s wrong with mandatory minimums
Much of the national criminal justice reform conversation focuses on mandatory minimum sentences because they often result in harsh outcomes for people and our criminal justice system. Mandatory minimums require judges to impose a specific [...]
Formerly Incarcerated People Can Vote in Michigan
Formerly incarcerated people in Michigan retain their right to vote. As we head into election season, it’s important to take a moment to review your voting rights and to understand what Michigan law says about [...]
Former Juvenile Lifer Reflects on His First Year of Freedom
Edward Sanders was just 17 years old in 1975 when a judge told him he would never walk free again. Though he hadn’t pulled the trigger, he had been convicted as an accessory to [...]
Clearing records paves the way to jobs, housing, and education
In Michigan, many people with criminal histories face significant barriers to success in the community. A criminal record presents challenges to obtaining employment, safe and stable housing, and to access to credit and post-secondary education. [...]