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 [...]
By Melissa Anders | Manders@Mlive.Com | February 12, 2014 A group of former corrections officials urged the state to change its parole review process for prisoners serving life sentences. (MLive File Photo) LANSING — A group of former corrections officials have called on Michigan to reform the parole review process for prisoners serving life sentences. The group, [...]
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 [...]
A new report by The Sentencing Project documents the rise of life sentences in the U.S. While serious crime rates in the U.S. have been declining for the last 20 years, the number of prisoners serving life sentences has more than quadrupled since 1984. The Sentencing Project's new report found that over 159,000 people were [...]
By Jonathan Oosting, Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group LANSING, MI -- A federal judge has ordered Michigan to develop a process for offering parole hearings to more than 350 inmates serving mandatory life sentences for crimes they committed as minors. U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O'Meara said Tuesday that Michigan has failed take [...]
The CAPPS video below was produced a number of years ago, but the problems it addresses are still current today. At the time this video was made, there were about 850 parolable lifers that were years, or decades, past their first parole eligibility date. Today, there are about 860 parolable lifers beyond their first parole [...]
News on Juvenile Life Without Parole: Is 100 Years a Life Sentence? Opinions Are Divided By ADAM LIPTAK, New York Times WASHINGTON — If people who are too young to vote commit crimes short of murder, the Supreme Court said in 2010, they should not be sentenced to die in prison. That sounds straightforward enough. But [...]
This chart explains who is serving life in prison, for how long and the number of paroles for eligible lifers that were vetoed by judges. Download>> Michigan lifers by the numbers Draft analysis