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 I was a very angry woman, had no feelings for how I treated others. I trusted no one, I felt [...]
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 with their own trauma. Her painful childhood experiences also became the genesis for “Pass the Mic,” a storytelling platform she [...]
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” [...]
There are more than 44,000 people on Michigan’s bloated sex offender registry — more people than are incarcerated inside Michigan prisons — and this number grows yearly. For more than 90 percent of people on this list, registration is for 25 years to life. While there is a process to petition for removal from the [...]
(Please note that portions of this blog use legislative and legal terms that aren’t Safe & Just Michigan’s preferred terminology. Safe & Just Michigan prefers to use humanizing person-first terms. However, as this post deals with pending legislation and existing laws, we are referring to them by their names for the sake of clarity.) Sex [...]
(Please note: the following blog post contains the reflections of formerly incarcerated people in their own words, and it covers material that is emotionally sensitive such as rape and gun violence.) Daniel Jones’ life changed forever when his parents separated when he was just a young boy. Up to then, he felt secure and [...]
I walked into my first Day of Empathy event nearly four years ago feeling terrified, socially averse and embarrassed. I was ashamed and had been shamed. I had only recently completed my three years of incarceration and a bit more than two years of parole and probation. The memory of being paraded, in a bright [...]
CAPPS is joining with the Ford School of Public Policy and Michigan State University to host two guest lectures by Prof. Marie Gottschalk, the widely acclaimed author of “Caught: The prison state and the lockdown of American politics”. Professor Gottschalk is a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. A former editor and journalist, [...]