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Featured Blogs
Michigan’s prison population on the rise again — barely
Michigan’s prison population nudged upward again for the first time in a decade, reversing a trend of rapidly falling headcounts inside prisons operated by the Michigan Department of Corrections. According to the figures recently published [...]
Inside Voices – February 2024
NOTE: Readers are cautioned that the following letters involve themes of physical and sexual abuse. How much time is enough for rehabilitation? I have been incarcerated for 10 years. When I came to prison [...]
Inside Voices – January 2024
Rethink felony murder Recently the U.S. Supreme Court and the Michigan Supreme Court have both acknowledged that life without parole sentences for juveniles who commit first-degree premeditated murder is unconstitutional, and cruel or unusual punishment. [...]
2023 By the Numbers – One Year in Our Work
This year started with a lot of promise for criminal justice reform advocates in Michigan. For the first time in 40 years, Democrats secured a hold on the governor’s desk and both chambers of the [...]
Meet Community Engagement Fellow Nealmetria Loper
Thirteen years ago, Nealmetria Loper came to a reckoning in her life. After living in a Detroit neighborhood that was troubled by violence and poverty, she decided she wanted better for her own children — and [...]
Meet new Community Engagement Fellow Ceci Bordayo
Ceci Bordayo has many notable accomplishments in her life. She’s written and recorded “House of Secrets,” a song about her family’s secrets surrounding physical and sexual abuse, which has helped countless people come to terms [...]
Hear these ‘Inside Voices’ – November 2023
Give people mental health help More than 50 percent of all people will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime, statistics say. That is a staggering statistic just [...]
Meet our new fund development fellow Erica Cederberg
By her own account, Erica Cederberg said she had a charmed life — until suddenly she didn’t. She was the head of her family’s business, was married and had two girls she adored. But then, [...]
Meet our new intern, Sonnet Yancey
The year 2020 was a watershed for many people, including Safe & Just Michigan’s new intern Sonnet Yancey, who uses she/they pronouns. Yancey, who is finishing a bachelor’s degree in social work at Michigan State [...]
Hear some ‘Inside Voices’ – August 2023
Second Look leads to second chances My name is John Halcomb. I am 60 years old. I regret my violent behavior every day as I am reminded through the violence I see in my prison [...]
2023 Mid-Year Legislative Status Update
The state Capitol is now in summer mode. Legislators are wrapping up work on their spring projects and getting ready to go back to their communities for their summer in-district work period, which means little [...]
Meet Safe & Just Michigan’s Policy & Advocacy Manager Jazmine Wells
Something happened to Jazmine Wells on her way to becoming a prosecuting attorney: she visited a jail. Specifically, she visited jail as an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan through her participation in a [...]