Not your run-of-the-mill prison "do gooder" agency!


A typical day in the office of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS?

HFP Executive Director Matt Tjapkes was in Ionia, to testify at a Michigan Parole Board Public Hearing on behalf of an inmate who has served nearly 20 years, and who, in our opinion, has demonstrated that he is worthy of a parole. We don’t do this on a routine basis, but we try do it when we feel a prisoner needs someone at his/her side. In some public hearings, a deserving inmate may have no one. Not even family. Way to go, Matt!

HFP Vice President Holly Honig-Josephson was in Ann Arbor, to participate in a panel discussion at the Arts for Justice Conference on the Campus of the University of Michigan. She was speaking on the critical need for reform in Michigan’s parole system. HFP was honored to have been invited to participate by co-sponsor Shakespeare Behind Bars. When it comes to parole issues, to quote the bald guy on television, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” Way to go, Holly!

HFP Medical Director Dr. Bob Bulten was preparing a letter to a Michigan prison warden, encouraging him to initiate medical tests for an inmate who appears to be experiencing seizures, and who apparently is not attracting the attention of prison healthcare personnel. Our office is contacted regularly by conscientious prisoners who are worried about the condition of fellow inmates. They turn to HFP. Way to go, Bob!

HFP President Doug Tjapkes was soliciting the assistance of a supportive immigration attorney in the complicated case of a Mexican native, in a Michigan prison for parole violation, who is desperately trying to reconnect with parents in his native land. HFP has a panel of lawyers, in a wide range of specialties, who serve us daily in many specific categories. We can’t promise positive results, but we can demonstrate that we care. Way to go, Douger?

Does this sound busy? Does it sound complicated? Does it sound intriguing? Does it sound overwhelming? Does it sound challenging?

To those of us now responding to up to 20 calls a day, 7 days a week, the answer is “yes” to all of the above.

Truth be told, we love it!

These examples, from just one day of activity in the HFP office, may help to explain our expanded definition of what it means to abide by a Matthew 25 mandate.

It’s where we are. It’s where we belong. It’s what we do.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to contact the author, Mark
Read more