Lifers

Inside Voices – February 2023

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 – January 2023

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 [...]

Meet Kimberly Woodson, our new Fund Development Fellow

Kimberly Woodson was almost locked away forever. We should all be grateful she wasn’t. Not only has she started a Detroit-based nonprofit to help others reintegrate into the community after coming home from prison, Safe & Just Michigan is lucky enough to welcome her onboard as one of our two new fund development fellows. As [...]

2022-10-12T15:13:26-04:00October 12th, 2022|Categories: Blog, Juveniles, Lifers, Reentry|

Why Restoring Good Time is Good Policy

For most of its history, Michigan had a generous, progressive “good time” system that reduced a prisoner’s parole eligibility date for every month they did not receive a citation for misconduct. (See: Barbara Levine, Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending, “10,000 Fewer Michigan Prisoners: Strategies to Reach the Goal” (June 2015) at pg. 76, [...]

2022-03-21T14:58:08-04:00March 21st, 2022|Categories: Blog, Lifers, Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), Reentry, Sentencing|

From prosecuted to working for the prosecutor’s office: A story of continuing transformation

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 [...]

2021-07-09T01:47:55-04:00July 8th, 2021|Categories: Blog, Courts, Juveniles, Lifers, Racial equity, Reentry, Sentencing, Trauma|

The Michigan Department of Corrections by the numbers

The Michigan Department of Corrections has released its 2019 Statistical Report, offering a glimpse into Michigan’s corrections system shortly before the COVID-19 crisis took hold and brought about some significant changes. Some of those changes are visible in a subsequent report to the Michigan Legislature in a January 2021 Budget Briefing document that detail how [...]

Bailing on Cash Bail

For those who don’t have money, they are stuck in jail, trying to fight their case and hold their lives together with a crazy glue made out of incapacitation, restricted access to a telephone, and the wreckage of whatever was left behind. - Joshua Hoe Getting arrested and going to jail turns your entire [...]

2021-02-25T13:27:53-05:00February 25th, 2021|Categories: Blog, Lifers, Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), Parole, Sentencing, Topics, Trauma|

2020 in review: A year of extremes

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 & [...]

Metal Health Matters

It has only been a couple months since I took part in the Juvenile Lifers Summer Camp retreat. However, during this pandemic, time has somehow seemed to have slowed a bit. I was a little bummed because my friend Walter had informed me that he could not attend the latest Metal Health Art Workshop because [...]

2020-10-28T18:04:24-04:00October 28th, 2020|Categories: Blog, Lifers, Mental health, Recidivism, Reentry, Trauma|