View on criminal justice in Michigan It is my belief, from having initiated five requests for commutation of my sentence, that the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) parole board is invested in purposefully interfering in all requests for commutation filed by those prisoners serving a natural life sentence, e.g., a life sentence without the possibility [...]
On March 5 and 6, a team of representatives from Safe & Just Michigan and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth visited Michigan state representatives and senators to urge them to resume action on our bills to end juvenile life without parole in Michigan. Last year, Safe & Just Michigan worked with supportive [...]
It’s tragic that Kenneth Nixon’s false conviction cost him 16 years of freedom, but it’s fair to wonder, perhaps selfishly, what it cost everyone else. Since his 2021 release from prison, Kenneth has proven to be a skilled problem solver and coalition builder. As president of the Organization of the Exonerees, he has worked with [...]
Former juvenile lifer Edward Sanders starts work for Washtenaw County's Conviction Integrity & Expungement Unit (Safe & Just Michigan first interviewed Edward Sanders, a former juvenile lifer, in July 2018, after he had been released from prison for about a year. Since then, he has contacted us periodically to keep us up-to-date on [...]
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 [...]
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 & [...]
Employers shouldn’t shun job applicants who have been incarcerated or who have criminal convictions on their records, leading human resource experts said during a webinar co-hosted Wednesday by SHRM — the Society for Human Resource Management — and Safe & Just Michigan, a Lansing, Mich.-based organization that advances criminal justice reforms. The event, titled “Best [...]
The 2020 election is shaping up to be an historic event. We are now just days away from Election Day, and already, many political commentators are expecting to see record voter turnout. This is a great thing, because the more people who vote, the more voices that are heard. Having a Criminal Record is Not [...]
Last week, Safe & Just Michigan released its first report in five years! Our new report examines the 40-year history of the felony firearm statute and the effect it has had on Michigan residents and prisons. Michigan’s felony firearm statute makes it a crime for a person to be in possession of a firearm during [...]
We are now 46 days away from a historic election. Here in Michigan, having a felony or misdemeanor conviction on your record is no barrier to voting, so long as you’re not currently incarcerated and serving a sentence. That means that the moment you leave jail or prison, you can vote. If you’re on probation [...]