I sat at the kitchen table this morning with my bowl of low-carb cereal, and flipped on the computer to review my overnight messages.
From the distraught mom of a 17 year old, mentally ill kid:
He attempted suicide by hanging himself with a sheet. I learned it around noon after calling tons of people, but no one would tell me why.
This young man was doing fine in a private institution, but then had serious problems, and was arrested again for parole violation. He's back in the Michigan prison system.
I don't think he will be able to cope. I hope he can find the will to live, but I don't feel he has it in him anymore. He made it very clear he cannot live in this life anymore. It is so sad.
I love this kid! I went to see him in prison, and when he was stabilized with proper medication he was a delight: a charming teenager with an award-winning smile. I bought him soda and candy bars. We laughed together, and hugged. His mother received a national award for working 24/7 to get him out of prison and into a proper institution. I was honored to speak at the awards ceremony. Now this. More charges, court arraignments, trials.
It's time for HFP to ratchet up our work with and for the mentally ill in prison! First and foremost, we must try to help these people. It's estimated that one prisoner in four is mentally ill in our prison system. Are you with us on this? It's going to take two things, in this order: prayer and dollars! Start today by praying for mother and son.
We have a psychologist as the chairman of our board. I pledge that he and I will begin to lay out plans for an expanded program as soon as next week. May we count on you? We cannot wait!
Doug Tjapkes, President
HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS
P.O. Box 687
Grand Haven, MI 489417
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Mental illness and prisons don't mix!
As messages continue to flood into the HFP office, I am especially troubled by cases involving mental illness.
_____, (age 15!) called today and let me know he got a ticket and will probably be in the hole for 30 days, because he was hittin' the door to see when his school was. Now he can't have any calls or visits.
_____,(age 17) has gone into a spiral and become manic. He had cut himself on purpose, has other injuries, and may need hospitalization. He is suicidal at times.
_____,(age 23) was finally placed on meds, and I have never seen him more healthy looking and hopeful in the past 20 days. Yesterday I was informed that the prison doctor is cutting off all meds! He believes my son just has an anti-personality disorder and no pill can help him. I am willing to pay for the treatment myself if this is about money with the DOC.
Unless you have had similar experiences, you cannot imagine the pain suffered by these family members!
Please pray for them.
And, as you think about year-end giving, please remember HFP with your prayers and financial support, so that we can become a stronger force in helping mentally ill prisoners and their families.
Thank you!
Doug Tjapkes, President
HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS
P.O. Box 687
Grand Haven, MI 49417
_____, (age 15!) called today and let me know he got a ticket and will probably be in the hole for 30 days, because he was hittin' the door to see when his school was. Now he can't have any calls or visits.
_____,(age 17) has gone into a spiral and become manic. He had cut himself on purpose, has other injuries, and may need hospitalization. He is suicidal at times.
_____,(age 23) was finally placed on meds, and I have never seen him more healthy looking and hopeful in the past 20 days. Yesterday I was informed that the prison doctor is cutting off all meds! He believes my son just has an anti-personality disorder and no pill can help him. I am willing to pay for the treatment myself if this is about money with the DOC.
Unless you have had similar experiences, you cannot imagine the pain suffered by these family members!
Please pray for them.
And, as you think about year-end giving, please remember HFP with your prayers and financial support, so that we can become a stronger force in helping mentally ill prisoners and their families.
Thank you!
Doug Tjapkes, President
HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS
P.O. Box 687
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Will your church be next?
This little church along the Lake Michigan shoreline wasn’t that much different than your church.
Its people loved the Lord, loved to worship, sang hymns with gusto, heard preaching that was true to the Word, and did their best to love and care for one another.
Years ago, getting a very subtle and almost un-noticed start in the church was support for a lonely, unknown, indigent, African American prisoner. A member of this church had started campaigning for the man’s release, claiming he had been wrongly convicted. Over the years the name Maurice Carter became a household word. His name was not only included in the prayers of church groups young and old, but in family devotions at mealtime. And so, by the time Mr. Carter was released from prison (after serving 29 years!), seriously ill and with only a few months remaining on this earth, he called the church his church. And before he died he slowly made his way to the pulpit on a Sunday morning to thank the people for their love and support and prayers, and then he received a standing ovation when he raised his voice with this statement/question: Isn’t God wonderful?! Mr. Carter died a few weeks later, but the congregation’s sensitivity for prisoners did not.
Five years later, members of the church were surprised when another prisoner showed up for morning worship. Turns out the same member of this church who started the campaign to free Maurice Carter---now working full-time in a prison ministry---was instrumental in the release of Ron Ross, who served 11 years behind bars, and who also claimed wrongful conviction.
No one ever encouraged Ron to come to this fine church, it wasn’t a part of any spoken or unspoken “deal,” he didn’t do it just because he thought he owed the church a debt. He liked it there! He felt at peace there! He met God there!
A generous couple gave him their second car so that he would have transportation. Learning very quickly that he was a skilled carpenter and master gardener, members of the church soon had him working long hours, not only enabling this once-penniless ex-convict to eat well and pay his bills, but also restoring his self-esteem!
But evil forces seem to hover over situations like this, and one day the borrowed car that Ron used for his handyman jobs was struck from behind as he waited in a stalled line of traffic. The old car was destroyed. God protected Ron and his minor injuries soon healed. But his work vehicle was gone.
He couldn’t have known that kind and generous people of this church, with selfless zeal and enthusiasm, quietly raised the necessary funds for Ron to purchase a beautiful and functional used pick-up truck.
His grin of appreciation nearly matched the one pasted on his face the day he walked out of prison!
A college intern, who organizes my lack of orderliness in the office of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS observed all of this. I know not whether she attends a church, but I know that she’s a spiritual being.
When the episode played out, she made this astute observation: I wonder what the recidivism rate would be if every prisoner who stepped out into the free world were adopted by a church!
I was in prison and you visited me.
Its people loved the Lord, loved to worship, sang hymns with gusto, heard preaching that was true to the Word, and did their best to love and care for one another.
Years ago, getting a very subtle and almost un-noticed start in the church was support for a lonely, unknown, indigent, African American prisoner. A member of this church had started campaigning for the man’s release, claiming he had been wrongly convicted. Over the years the name Maurice Carter became a household word. His name was not only included in the prayers of church groups young and old, but in family devotions at mealtime. And so, by the time Mr. Carter was released from prison (after serving 29 years!), seriously ill and with only a few months remaining on this earth, he called the church his church. And before he died he slowly made his way to the pulpit on a Sunday morning to thank the people for their love and support and prayers, and then he received a standing ovation when he raised his voice with this statement/question: Isn’t God wonderful?! Mr. Carter died a few weeks later, but the congregation’s sensitivity for prisoners did not.
Five years later, members of the church were surprised when another prisoner showed up for morning worship. Turns out the same member of this church who started the campaign to free Maurice Carter---now working full-time in a prison ministry---was instrumental in the release of Ron Ross, who served 11 years behind bars, and who also claimed wrongful conviction.
No one ever encouraged Ron to come to this fine church, it wasn’t a part of any spoken or unspoken “deal,” he didn’t do it just because he thought he owed the church a debt. He liked it there! He felt at peace there! He met God there!
A generous couple gave him their second car so that he would have transportation. Learning very quickly that he was a skilled carpenter and master gardener, members of the church soon had him working long hours, not only enabling this once-penniless ex-convict to eat well and pay his bills, but also restoring his self-esteem!
But evil forces seem to hover over situations like this, and one day the borrowed car that Ron used for his handyman jobs was struck from behind as he waited in a stalled line of traffic. The old car was destroyed. God protected Ron and his minor injuries soon healed. But his work vehicle was gone.
He couldn’t have known that kind and generous people of this church, with selfless zeal and enthusiasm, quietly raised the necessary funds for Ron to purchase a beautiful and functional used pick-up truck.
His grin of appreciation nearly matched the one pasted on his face the day he walked out of prison!
A college intern, who organizes my lack of orderliness in the office of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS observed all of this. I know not whether she attends a church, but I know that she’s a spiritual being.
When the episode played out, she made this astute observation: I wonder what the recidivism rate would be if every prisoner who stepped out into the free world were adopted by a church!
I was in prison and you visited me.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Year-end gifts important to HFP!
IT’S TIME TO THINK ABOUT END-OF-THE-YEAR GIVING!
Five years ago Maurice Carter died, after serving 29 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS was Maurice’s dream. He didn’t want another prisoner to suffer his nightmare of wrongful conviction and inadequate healthcare. Without Maurice our organization wouldn’t exist.
I recently read “When praying, don’t give God instructions … just report for duty!”
Well, that’s been our response here, and we thought you’d like to see the results.
As you consider which organizations deserve your year-end attention, take a look at the back of this letter. No question about it, thanks to YOU, HFP has made an impact! And, on a shoestring budget!
All organizations have impressive statistics. Our numbers are different: They wear faces! , For 5 years we’ve stayed true to our purpose of reaching out with compassion and helping to transform the lives of lonely and forgotten prisoners. And our work, unlike that of huge projects, is on the personal level: ONE ON ONE!
YOUR YEAR-END GIFT WILL KEEP US GOING RIGHT INTO THE PRISONS!
AND…CHRISTMAS GIVING!
SWEET FREEDOM
What better way to tell the prison story, what better gift for a dear friend, than my actual first-person account of the Maurice Carter saga in this fascinating book!
Here’s how we’ll work it:
YOU 1. Send us the name and address of the recipient
2. Send HFP a contribution of $20 or more
I 1. Will personally sign the book
2. Will ship the book, as a gift from you, to the recipient
Thanks to your loyal support, we’ll have another year of making a difference!
Doug Tjapkes, President
HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS
P.O. Box 687
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Five years ago Maurice Carter died, after serving 29 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS was Maurice’s dream. He didn’t want another prisoner to suffer his nightmare of wrongful conviction and inadequate healthcare. Without Maurice our organization wouldn’t exist.
I recently read “When praying, don’t give God instructions … just report for duty!”
Well, that’s been our response here, and we thought you’d like to see the results.
As you consider which organizations deserve your year-end attention, take a look at the back of this letter. No question about it, thanks to YOU, HFP has made an impact! And, on a shoestring budget!
All organizations have impressive statistics. Our numbers are different: They wear faces! , For 5 years we’ve stayed true to our purpose of reaching out with compassion and helping to transform the lives of lonely and forgotten prisoners. And our work, unlike that of huge projects, is on the personal level: ONE ON ONE!
YOUR YEAR-END GIFT WILL KEEP US GOING RIGHT INTO THE PRISONS!
AND…CHRISTMAS GIVING!
SWEET FREEDOM
What better way to tell the prison story, what better gift for a dear friend, than my actual first-person account of the Maurice Carter saga in this fascinating book!
Here’s how we’ll work it:
YOU 1. Send us the name and address of the recipient
2. Send HFP a contribution of $20 or more
I 1. Will personally sign the book
2. Will ship the book, as a gift from you, to the recipient
Thanks to your loyal support, we’ll have another year of making a difference!
Doug Tjapkes, President
HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS
P.O. Box 687
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Monday, October 26, 2009
The spirit of Maurice Carter lives on!
Maurice Carter died just five years ago this weekend. He could not have been remembered more appropriately than at a Friday evening ceremony in Madison, Wisconsin. Some 200 people gathered in a University of Wisconsin auditorium to celebrate 10 years of service by the U of W Innocence Project.
The case of Maurice Carter was one of the first to be taken on by the fledgling Innocence Project in 1998, and the bright-eyed students and eager professors began a six-year journey to free a man they came to know and love. Little did they realize that honesty and integrity are foreign to the judicial system in Berrien County, Michigan. They traveled, they made prison visits, they dug through dusty police files in a Benton Harbor basement, and over the years they prepared impressive briefs and documents, nearly two inches thick, that proved without doubt that Maurice was innocent. Never did they expect to encounter a judge who refused to review the material...who just shoved the stack of paper aside, grumbling something about the number of trees reflected in that stack of paper. Never had they heard a judge speak with such disrespect about a fellow human being whose life in prison was threatened by a mortal disease:
We're all gonna die sometime!
I'm not going to allow Mr. Carter to be transported to this courtroom. After all, I don't own any term insurance on him!
Maurice had warned his legal team in advance to seek a different county. He always maintained that, when his case came up in Berrien County, the wheels of justice ground to a halt!
I proudly stood in for Maurice, along with a dozen persons who were freed by the Wisconsin Innocence Project Friday night, and I thanked and congratulated the professors, students and alumni for their dedication. Maurice and the other exonerees received a lengthy standing ovation.
Maurice survived for only three months after he was released for medical reasons in 2004. During that short period, Maurice Carter visited our church, filled with his supporters. And when called upon to say a few words about serving 29 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, he focused, instead, on his freedom and proclaimed: ISN'T GOD WONDERFUL?
I'll not forget his final words. I had to lean over his bed to hear the whisper: "I love you."
May the death of Maurice Carter---a kind, gentle man whose love knew no bounds---serve to remind us that humanity for prisoners is a mandate, that complacency is a sin, and that WE are the ones who must constantly strive for a system that ensures justice for all!
The case of Maurice Carter was one of the first to be taken on by the fledgling Innocence Project in 1998, and the bright-eyed students and eager professors began a six-year journey to free a man they came to know and love. Little did they realize that honesty and integrity are foreign to the judicial system in Berrien County, Michigan. They traveled, they made prison visits, they dug through dusty police files in a Benton Harbor basement, and over the years they prepared impressive briefs and documents, nearly two inches thick, that proved without doubt that Maurice was innocent. Never did they expect to encounter a judge who refused to review the material...who just shoved the stack of paper aside, grumbling something about the number of trees reflected in that stack of paper. Never had they heard a judge speak with such disrespect about a fellow human being whose life in prison was threatened by a mortal disease:
We're all gonna die sometime!
I'm not going to allow Mr. Carter to be transported to this courtroom. After all, I don't own any term insurance on him!
Maurice had warned his legal team in advance to seek a different county. He always maintained that, when his case came up in Berrien County, the wheels of justice ground to a halt!
I proudly stood in for Maurice, along with a dozen persons who were freed by the Wisconsin Innocence Project Friday night, and I thanked and congratulated the professors, students and alumni for their dedication. Maurice and the other exonerees received a lengthy standing ovation.
Maurice survived for only three months after he was released for medical reasons in 2004. During that short period, Maurice Carter visited our church, filled with his supporters. And when called upon to say a few words about serving 29 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, he focused, instead, on his freedom and proclaimed: ISN'T GOD WONDERFUL?
I'll not forget his final words. I had to lean over his bed to hear the whisper: "I love you."
May the death of Maurice Carter---a kind, gentle man whose love knew no bounds---serve to remind us that humanity for prisoners is a mandate, that complacency is a sin, and that WE are the ones who must constantly strive for a system that ensures justice for all!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
HFP thanks God for women!
Many women quietly support and assist HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS in many ways, but a few prime examples come to mind this morning:
THE MOTHER OF A YOUNG MAN WHO DIED IN PRISON DUE TO NEGLECT, who has no money to spare, has pledged the first $200 so that we can represent the late Maurice Carter at the Wisconsin Innocence Project's 10th anniversary observance in Madison on Friday. Is someone up to matching that pledge?
A FORMER PRISONER has taken on a fund-raising project for HFP that failed both times in the last two years. She's making it happen because she KNOWS what we are doing! Its success is already guaranteed!
AN EX-EMPLOYEE OF THE MICHIGAN PRISON SYSTEM is now working with me in the office to create harmony out of this discord. She understands our mission!
This is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg! I would like to profile a long list of women, and the amazing things they are doing to remember those in prison as if they were together with them in prison. They're help with fund-raising, contributions, grants, special projects, prayers, and prisoner-assistance keeps us going!
SINCERE THANKS TO ALL FROM THE HFP BOARD OF DIRECTORS!
Humanity for Prisoners
P.O. Box 687
Grand Haven, MI 49417
THE MOTHER OF A YOUNG MAN WHO DIED IN PRISON DUE TO NEGLECT, who has no money to spare, has pledged the first $200 so that we can represent the late Maurice Carter at the Wisconsin Innocence Project's 10th anniversary observance in Madison on Friday. Is someone up to matching that pledge?
A FORMER PRISONER has taken on a fund-raising project for HFP that failed both times in the last two years. She's making it happen because she KNOWS what we are doing! Its success is already guaranteed!
AN EX-EMPLOYEE OF THE MICHIGAN PRISON SYSTEM is now working with me in the office to create harmony out of this discord. She understands our mission!
This is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg! I would like to profile a long list of women, and the amazing things they are doing to remember those in prison as if they were together with them in prison. They're help with fund-raising, contributions, grants, special projects, prayers, and prisoner-assistance keeps us going!
SINCERE THANKS TO ALL FROM THE HFP BOARD OF DIRECTORS!
Humanity for Prisoners
P.O. Box 687
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Monday, October 19, 2009
First-of-the-week comments
From a supporter
I'd like to see the Avalon as a sculpture piece installed at a conspicuous intersection in all its wrecked glory! Dedication: Wrecked but still functioning. And Ron Ross even, the personifier of coordinating such a masterpiece... It's curious how random events often converge into a whole. RIP, Avalon. Your glory lives on!
From a prisoner, commenting on the work of HFP
...it is one thing to be compelled to help someone you know to be innocent. It is another to decide that what a person has done in their past is less important than who they are and how they are treated today. That is a huge leap that can only be made with a strong and pure heart, and I am so glad I have been given the opportunity to meet you.
From an advocate for juveniles in the prison system
If all the kids housed in the MDOC could be followed and supported by a church, what a positive impact that could make in their young lives! Your church in Ferrysburg supported Mr. Carter. Can you imagine how wonderful it would/could be if each MDOC child was matched with a church that could pray, send letters and books, and make personal visits to them?
Thanks to one and all for your constant, unfailing, support and encouragement!
I'd like to see the Avalon as a sculpture piece installed at a conspicuous intersection in all its wrecked glory! Dedication: Wrecked but still functioning. And Ron Ross even, the personifier of coordinating such a masterpiece... It's curious how random events often converge into a whole. RIP, Avalon. Your glory lives on!
From a prisoner, commenting on the work of HFP
...it is one thing to be compelled to help someone you know to be innocent. It is another to decide that what a person has done in their past is less important than who they are and how they are treated today. That is a huge leap that can only be made with a strong and pure heart, and I am so glad I have been given the opportunity to meet you.
From an advocate for juveniles in the prison system
If all the kids housed in the MDOC could be followed and supported by a church, what a positive impact that could make in their young lives! Your church in Ferrysburg supported Mr. Carter. Can you imagine how wonderful it would/could be if each MDOC child was matched with a church that could pray, send letters and books, and make personal visits to them?
Thanks to one and all for your constant, unfailing, support and encouragement!
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