Humanity for Prisoners

  As guest speaker for a senior citizens seminar on a college campus I was invited to explain the work of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS.   I make extensive use of anecdotes in my public presentations about this work. Facts and figures may be impressive to a few people, but stories about the lives of fellow human beings are far more attention-getting.   In that the HFP staff helps men and women with many issues and problems they face living in Michigan’s 27 correctional facilities you can well imagine that many of my stories have a negative flavor. Before concluding my speech, I had some unpleasant things to say about prison guards and their mistreatment of inmates. At the conclusion of my presentation a very nice elderly woman politely raised her hand. “I have a son who is a corrections officer,” she had. “He has a college degree, he does his job well, and he loves his work!” That was an important reminder for me: All the apples in the bushel are not rotten!   That li...

  “Prison education is a concept whose time has come. It is time to stop studying the issue and stop discoursing. It is time to start the ball rolling and do something about it.” ― Christopher Zoukis, federal prison consultant   I’m proud to report that Pure Michigan IS doing something about it!   Prison Journalism Project, an independent non-profit, recently published this exciting information:   The state Legislature recently allocated $3.9 million to transform an unused industrial-scale warehouse within Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer into a self-contained college center. The college will provide higher education classes to all of the over 1,000 state prisoners held at the prison. Once completed, the campus building will house dozens of classrooms, a computer room without internet, a library and a small cafe with food available for purchase by professors and students.  To be eligible, prisoners must be incarcerated at this medium security prison...

  We are blessed to have your support!   My message, on behalf of the HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS team, is extended to all who see that we meet our financial obligations day in and day out. I felt this message was important after reading a recent newspaper story about giving in America.  I learned, for example, that American adults under the age of 45 don’t feel like giving one cent to charity !   Here’s what else the AP survey showed:             -¾ said their household gave to a charitable organization;             -¼ said their household made no donations;             -4 in 10 support helping people in U.S. who need food, shelter, etc.;             -4 in 10 donate to religious organizations; and -The average one-time gift is around $121,...

Some years ago a member of our staff added these words to our June newsletter: “Happy Pride Month!”   Response was immediate, and not always positive. One person, whom I know to be a devout Christian, chose to stop her monthly support contribution. She and I differ in the way we interpret the word “evangelical.”   Well, here we are in the month of June, once again, and that incident and those memories don’t make me angry, don’t make me proud…they make me sad.   When I started this organization 24 years ago, there was no intention to favor one group, one race, one religion, one anything. Our mission was simple: Help those who need help!   During Pride Month 2025 it’s appropriate that we focus on those prisoners who really need our attention as they struggle with sexual identity issues.   -Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more than twice as likely to be arrested as straight people — and lesbian and bisexual women, specifically, are more than four t...

Bold headline in the Sunday newspaper: Feeding residents on less than $10 a day? ‘That’s appallingly low.”   The feature story was written by NJ Advance and MLive reporters. The focus was on food in our nation’s nursing homes. A study showed that a quarter of these facilities spent under $10 a day to feed their residents. Some were as low as $4-6 per day! “Appallingly low,” exclaimed David C. Grambowski, Harvard Professor of Health Care Policy   If you think that’s low, you ain’t heard nothin’! Let’s compare the expense of prison meals with that of nursing home meals. In our country m ost states spend less than $3 per person per day on prison food. Some spend as little as $1.02 per person per day! Right here in Pure Michigan, I’m ashamed to report that the daily cost to feed a prisoner in a state prison is estimated to be around $1.98. Now THAT’S appallingly low!   It is not uncommon for the office of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS to receive complaints that include substa...

I have a confession. In my spare time, I like to read legal thrillers. I know, I know…perhaps I should be reading War and Peace. But, these novels, featuring court battles between prosecutors and defense attorneys, give me a lot of insight. As a worker with prisoners for more than 2 decades, I’m also learning that the feelings and emotions of defendants often get tossed aside. Winning and losing seems to be the game.   Well, anyway, I recently picked up a very decent novel by James Chandler.   I know very little about James Chandler. I do know this: He earned his law degree George Mason University School of Law, and practiced law in Wyoming for twelve years before his appointment to the bench.   What I don’t know interests me even more. Somehow, he relates well with people who have been in prison. It almost sounds like he might have had a taste of it, or else he became very close to someone who had lived through these experiences.   For example, on the topic ...