Michigan has around 43-thousand prisoners in its state system. They reside in 31 state prisons and affiliated health care facilities. Credit Flickr - Todd Ehlers A host of challenges associated with Michigan’s prison system make corrections one of the state’s biggest and most persistent issues. No discussion of Michigan corrections lasts long without [...]
Quotable: Former Ann Arbor publisher and University of Michigan regent Phil Power recently described higher education funding in Michigan in his typically direct way, noting that higher education in Michigan has withstood seven straight cuts since 2000, making “our state nearly first in the nation at cutting support for colleges. While it will certainly help [...]
Locked Out Editorial published by the Toledo Blade February, 24, 2014 For more than three decades, Michigan, Ohio, and most other states have engaged in a costly and futile race to incarcerate. It has quadrupled their prison populations and cost them hundreds of millions of dollars a year, with no demonstrable effect on crime.Ohio’s prison [...]
Another news story on the CAPPS reports released Feb 12, 2014 (see reports this website). Note that a survey by the Prisons and Corrections Section of the State Bar of Michigan documented judges' intentions in sentencing parolable lifers. You can find that survey on this website at : By Rick Pluta | WKAR.org | February [...]
Another good article on the reports CAPPS released Feb. 12, 2014 (see In the News) Citizens group urges parole reforms to save Michigan $17M annually By Gary Heinlein | Detroit News | Feb. 12, 2014 Lansing— The state is wasting up to $17 million a year keeping 850 aging and sick life-sentenced inmates imprisoned rather than [...]
Click on headline below to read: Read>> Parolable Lifers in Michigan: Paying the price of unchecked discretion Read>> Michigan's Parolable Lifers: The cost of a broken process CAPPS Press release February 12, 2014 Michigan Department of Corrections Professionals Comment on Lifer Paroles * Read report summaries below: The Michigan Department of Corrections has tried to contain its [...]
Barbara Levine, CAPPS associate director for research and policy was interviewed on November 22, 2013 by Matthew Hall of Capital News Service. She noted that although the number of correction employees has declined over the past decade, department spending has steadily climbed due to health care costs and salary increases. By MATTHEW HALL Capital News Service LANSING – [...]
Laura Sager, CAPPS executive director, wrote a guest Op-Ed for the Detroit Free Press that was published Sunday, Oct. 27th, 2013. In her Op-Ed, Sager argues that the state of Michigan is spending too much money keeping people locked up who are elderly, ill and who have served far beyond their eligible parole dates. This [...]
This CAPPS presentation exposes the key myths that continue to drive our costly and ineffective approaches to public safety. Safely reducing corrections spending: Key concepts and major myths demonstrates how CAPPS's proposed reforms could save Michigan hundreds of millions of dollars annually, which could then be reinvested in education and services proven to reduce crime. Click [...]
Michigan Public Radio’s Jake Neher recently interviewed CAPPS Executive Director Laura Sager and Board member Monica Jahner. They discussed how Michigan's parole policies contribute to our $2 billion annual corrections budget, by keeping people incarcerated far longer than necessary for public safety: Michigan’s inmates stay in prison longer than those in any of the [...]