The Michigan House of Representatives has a new speaker this session, Rep. Lee Chatfield (R-Levering), and he has announced that the House committee process will work slightly differently this session than it has in previous years. Until now, bills were sent to any number of standing House committees. Each of these committees had the ability [...]
On Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, John Cooper, our associate director of policy & research, traveled to Lakeland Correctional Facility to present at the monthly meeting of Chapter #1013 of the National Lifers of America organization (“NLA”). NLA is a statewide prisoner-based organization with an active membership in many prisons in Michigan. Its purpose is to [...]
Nov. 6, 2018, is Election Day. Big decisions are being made in Michigan, from who should sit in the governor’s office to how political districts are drawn in our state. Political offices and issues being decided today include: A Michigan U.S. Senator Michigan’s congressional delegation (14 seats, but you will only vote for the seat [...]
Every two years, at the end of a legislative session, the Legislature has a post-election “lame duck” session, where the election results are known, but the existing Legislature has several weeks of session remaining in their terms. The lame duck session tends to be chaotic — particularly when there is an impending change in control [...]
Solving the problem of how to get more people to get on board with criminal justice reform was the theme of the night at Safe & Just Michigan’s Annual Membership Meeting and dinner, held Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Radisson Hotel in Lansing. The event, attended by nearly 200 people, featured speakers Leon El-Alamin from [...]
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 requires the parole board to adhere to set standards when determining whether an incarcerated person who scores as a low-risk [...]
There is a buzz in our office. It is the excitement from publicly launching our new name, Safe & Just Michigan. As a Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending supporter – aka CAPPS, you likely have received our communications, such as our e-newsletter, discussing the reasons for the change. We would like to provide [...]
On May 30, 2018, HB 5377 passed the Michigan House by an overwhelming 97-10 vote. HB 5377 will establish an objective, evidence-based parole process for low-risk incarcerated people. Currently, incarcerated people who are eligible for parole undergo a rigorous risk assessment by the parole board. By law, parole board members can only deny parole for “substantial [...]
Representative Dave Pagel (R – District 78) and Representative Peter Lucido (R – District 36) have sponsored legislation (HB 4101, 4102, 4103, and 5245) that permits medical parole for the medically frail. Medically frail people are unable to perform basic tasks of daily living without assistance. The bills were voted out of the House of [...]
Michigan has a longer length of stay for people in prison than any other state. The Pew Center on the States study found that in 2009, Michigan prisoners served nearly 17 months more than average. According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, in 2016 the average minimum sentence was 9.9 years (a figure which does [...]