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 environment. This prison violence, however, began my rehabilitation when it caused me to empathically place myself in my victim's place. [...]
Let medically frail go home Some years ago, I read (and saved) a newspaper article that stated a couple of interesting statistics. First, that “Michigan prisons hold about 9,000 prisoners who are at least 50.” Second, that roughly 120 prisoners die each year in the system — “a lot of them bed-ridden” and medically frail [...]
Think twice before demanding Bernstein resignation There’s no mistaking Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein’s Freudian Slip objection to newly appointed Justice Kyra Bolden’s hiring ex-felon Pete Martel as one of her law clerks as racism, bigotry, or discrimination. But calls for Bernstein’s resignation are unwarranted because his outburst isn’t reflective of the “blind justice” [...]
Inside Voices is an opportunity for our members who are incarcerated to voice their ideas and opinions to the outside world. Since they can't access our monthly electronic newsletter, Safe & Just Michigan prints a newsletter several times a year that is mailed to our members who are in prison. We have invited those readers [...]
For most of its history, Michigan had a generous, progressive “good time” system that reduced a prisoner’s parole eligibility date for every month they did not receive a citation for misconduct. (See: Barbara Levine, Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending, “10,000 Fewer Michigan Prisoners: Strategies to Reach the Goal” (June 2015) at pg. 76, [...]
Michigan’s prison population dropped by a drastic 11.7% between 2019 and 2020, driven by an effort to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections 2020 Statistical Report. While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer turned down requests to accelerate parole efforts during the pandemic, another decision of hers did lead to the sharp decrease [...]
In 2014, Sabrie Alexander suffered more than 100 seizures over the period of two days. She and her family already knew that she had a seizure disorder, so normally, they would have rushed her to a hospital to get immediate treatment. But 2014 wasn’t a normal time for Sabrie, who was then 27-years-old. She was [...]
The Michigan Department of Corrections has released its 2019 Statistical Report, offering a glimpse into Michigan’s corrections system shortly before the COVID-19 crisis took hold and brought about some significant changes. Some of those changes are visible in a subsequent report to the Michigan Legislature in a January 2021 Budget Briefing document that detail how [...]
For those who don’t have money, they are stuck in jail, trying to fight their case and hold their lives together with a crazy glue made out of incapacitation, restricted access to a telephone, and the wreckage of whatever was left behind. - Joshua Hoe Getting arrested and going to jail turns your entire [...]
This past year has been one of extremes. The COVID-19 pandemic has been tragic and caused enormous loss, as many people with loved ones inside prison know all too well. At the other extreme, it has also been a year of unprecedented gains in criminal justice reforms. In between, all of us at Safe & [...]