Humanity for Prisoners

I don’t write 700-word essays very often, but I choose to do so today in memory of a dear friend. I witnessed his death on March 20, 19 years ago. Seeing someone take final breaths is not an unusual experience. Many people have been at the bedside of a friend or loved one for precious final moments. No, that isn’t the way this happened. I was behind a window at the State of Texas’ death chamber. I watched the state take the life of my friend Charles Anthony Nealy. He would have been 43 if he had lived three days longer. It’s a long story, but worth re-telling as a reminder that capital punishment is sinister and evil and wrongful convictions are real. The year was 2002, just 12 months after I had founded a little organization called INNOCENT…an agency that later became HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. A support group for Mr. Nealy in England had contacted me for assistance. It was a sad story. Anthony had been found guilty of murder by a Texas jury in 1998 in, what the Dallas Morning Ne...

  “…forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us” Matthew 6:12   I memorized the Lord’s Prayer when I was a little tyke. Sometimes my mom and dad would ask me to recite it before our meal at suppertime. Little did I know, back then, what Jesus was talking about here. And, I suspect that, even now, when we race through that prayer we pay little attention to this powerful statement.   Let’s face it. Forgiveness isn’t easy!   I’m struggling with that right now. An acquaintance has screwed up royally and, in doing so, burned nearly all of his bridges. I must just forgive?   As an old news writer and a news junkie, however, I’m heartened by some of the stories I read.   For example, in recent days there was a sad story in the news. 5 teenagers in Georgia were going to TP their teacher’s home. The instructor, however, learned of the plot and thought it would be fun to catch them in the act. But, the scared kids fled in their ...

We have numerous prison problems in Michigan…some that require difficult solutions. But it doesn’t take a brilliant scholar to figure this one out!   Here’s the deal.   Michigan prisons spend roughly 15% of their $2.1 billion budget on healthcare, especially driven by the aging population. As of today, our state prison population stands at about 32,250.   Now let’s focus on that “aging population.”   Here in Michigan we have nearly 1,000 prisoners between the ages of 70 and 80, and another 129 who are 80 and older ! The margin of incarcerated men and women over 60 years of age in Michigan totals 3.5%, as compared to the national average of 1-2%. Just imagine the dollars that could be saved by reducing this segment of our prison population!   My friend “Big Ben,” now 76 years of age, has been in prison for 52 years! He’s elderly, kind and gentle. Do you honestly believe that he and others like him, aged 70-90, might reoffend? Give me a break!   It ...

March 1, 2026. HFP’s award-winning documentary--- WRONGED: THE MAURICE CARTER STORY---was scheduled for a screening as part of the Lake Michigan Film Festival in Okemos, Michigan. Immediately following the showing of our film, another powerful documentary--- MICHIGAN VISITS MATTER: THE FAMILY COST OF INCARCERATION, commissioned by CPR, was to be shown. HFP founder Doug Tjapkes and CPR founder Lois Pullano would be in attendance.   It was no surprise that, when the two of us met in the lobby of Studio C: Meridian Mall theater, we threw our arms around each other   Many people know my story. I’m a small market radio newsman whose life was changed in the 1990s upon meeting an indigent Black man sitting in the Michigan prison system and claiming wrongful conviction. That led to a 9-year fight to obtain his freedom. Maurice Carter and I became brothers! As a result of that experience, I started a little one-man operation now known as HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. Today, however, ...

  It was a 90-minute session filled with horror stories. Then came the headlines:   Mistreatment, mold alleged at women’s prison--- Detroit News   Bipartisan outrage erupts at House hearing on conditions inside Michigan’s only women’s prison--- Detroit Metro-Times   House Oversight Committee demands answers on mold, safety concerns at Huron Valley prison facility--- Michigan Advance   ‘Infested with Mold’ and Suicide Bets: Inside Michigan’s Women’s Prison Horror Show--- Hoodline   Women's Prison Called 'Michigan's Death Sentence'   --- Michigan Information and Research Service, Inc.   Lawmaker says Michigan treats its women prisoners worse than animals--- Detroit Free Press   And that’s just a sampling. All of this in response to a hearing this week conducted by the state legislature’s House Oversight Committee. The focus was on complaints of alleged problems at Women’s Huron Valley, Michigan’s only prison for women, located in ...