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 [...]
Growth is carried out over the course of an entire lifetime. This is a concept that resonates well with Scott Tompkins. Over his lifetime, he has been a father, a journalist, an educator, a community organizer — and someone sentenced to 18 months in prison. Now back home in northern Michigan, Scott wants to put all [...]
One of the most rewarding things about working for criminal justice reform is getting people interested in transforming our court and prison systems and watching the momentum for change build, both in Michigan and nationwide. So, when I got a call from Sean Wilkinson, a reporter and videographer from San Francisco who is representing the [...]
For Rick Speck, the process of change relies heavily on role models — both having one and being one. While he was incarcerated, it was the presence of good role models that led Speck, now Safe & Just Michigan’s community engagement specialist, to turn his life around. Once that happened, he realized that he had [...]
When someone is sentenced to prison, they aren’t the only one doing hard time. The people who wait for them at home — their friends, their family, their loved ones — also experience the hardships of incarceration. That’s the message behind the film “Locked Out,” created through the hard work of Citizens for Prison Reform [...]
Last week, Safe & Just Michigan Policy Analyst Josh Hoe and I had the opportunity to be part of a group of 20 that had a tour of the Vocational Village at the Parnall Correctional facility in Jackson. Parnall’s program is the second of its kind in the state. The first program was developed in [...]
The man sitting across from me never got to say goodbye to his mother. She died while he was incarcerated and he wasn’t able to be with her during her last days or to join his family at her funeral. He hasn’t been able to see any of his daughter get married, go to any [...]
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 [...]