Humanity for Prisoners

  History was made today!   I’m not exaggerating. It was a historic moment for the Christian Reformed Church of North America. It was a historic moment for the Michigan Department of Corrections. And it was a historic moment for HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS.   The Christian Reformed Church has two new pastors today. In an impressive ceremony attended by 16 people at the Muskegon Correctional Facility, two prisoners were ordained! Pastor Mark Urban and Pastor Crisanto Escabalzeta are both serving lengthy sentences on charges involving criminal sexual conduct. Neither will be eligible for parole until the 2030s.   It's an amazing story of redemption!   The two men first completed years of study in Calvin Prison Initiative. CPI is a Christian liberal arts education program for Michigan inmates. That was only the first step in their decade-long pursuit of ordination. Even though they could not continue their studies in a seminary, tutors were provided. Finally cam...

  Joyce was on the line. I have no idea how Joyce got my telephone number, but the mother of two adult sons in prison was calling me from Detroit. A Black senior citizen on fixed income and battling cancer had heard of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. She asked me to check on one of her sons who, she felt, was becoming suicidal.   I readily agreed, but my next question was why didn’t she personally visit her son? Then came the tears. Months ago, when Joyce was getting checked in to visit one of her sons, the desk officer informed her that she had to go home. Prison visits were banned because a bench warrant had been issued due to unpaid traffic tickets. Being on a fixed income, it was traffic tickets or groceries for Joyce. She chose to keep on eating.   I’ll make this story very short. Assisted by several national agencies HFP, within days, raised money for her traffic tickets, personally delivered the money to her and the judge. She was finally able to see her boys...the fir...

“You've been one extremely faithful source of support through these many years. I know that support personally, and so many women here (at WHV) have been affected by your prayers and the help you have given through the years. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”   That message arrived at the HFP office as I was working on our  birthday post for the blog site. It came from Karen Boes, now 69, who was convicted of felony murder by a jury in 2003. The state contended that she set fire to her house, a fire that claimed the life of her daughter. She was sentenced to life behind bars. She consistently claimed her innocence. For all these years I personally followed up on her case, especially after learning that junk science had been used to gain conviction. I still have the two-page letter from an arson expert with excellent credentials who informed me that she could not have set that fire. I stayed in touch with Karen, HFP supported her in any way possible, and I kept her in my pray...

  It must surely be a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit that even a small number of those men and women in the hell of the prison system survive it and hold on to their humanity.” ― Howard Zinn   The stuff I’m reading from and about Michigan prisons this week is so unpleasant! It underscores the very reason why HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS was formed 24 years ago, and the reason why, today, HFP offers a cup of cool water, “action with compassion.”   St. Louis Correctional Facility   The Michigan Corrections Organization reveals that it has received alarming reports from St. Louis CF exposing hazardous and unsafe conditions. “SLF experienced a rash of violence in July 2025 which included 15 staff assaults, 25 prisoner assaults, and 69 prisoners sent to segregation for fighting. Additionally, 23 prisoners went to segregation for protection and 45 for refusing to lock in general population. The facility was put on lock down multiple times including after a...

Bridge Michigan recently published a fine report on Michigan’s shameful practice of charging state prisoners for visiting the health clinic. At first glance one might think there’s still hope of eliminating that dumb co-pay idea. But as you read on it becomes apparent that hope for any change is grim. It ain’t gonna happen, and that’s an outrage!   FYI, Michigan prisoners pay a $5 copay for most medical visits.   5 bucks doesn’t seem like much. Keep in mind, however, that these men and women can earn as little as 74 cents per day in their prison jobs (wages haven’t gone up in decades!). Michigan is one of only 16 states where the co-pay for health care costs is more than the average weekly wage for inmates.   One of the arguments in favor of co-pay is that it not only discourages frivolous visits to the doctor’s office, but that it makes money for the state. I can’t prove this, but I insist that, to the contrary, this stupid practice costs the state money. Because ...

Here’s a problem that few people know about: Approximately 6% of the Michigan Department of Corrections budget is spent on overtime pay! Because of staff shortages corrections officers are working long hours. So many overtime hours, in fact, that it’s costing the state more than $112 million per year!   The problem is easily explained. Approximately half of Michigan's prisons are understaffed, with a shortage of around 900 officers statewide!   An in-depth report written by MLive reporter Nathan Clark tells the story well. And, it has clout because it reaches Michigan readers of 9 different newspapers.   On the other hand, instead of making that kind of impact along comes Doug Tjapkes, a little guy, a small market journalist whose radio station had 500 watts, who’s living in a city of 3,000 people, and who has no clout whatsoever. My mantra, in all my careers, has been to speak up for the little guy. So, regardless of impact or clout, I’d like to turn the focus fro...