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Thank you for friends---behind bars!

My special thanks, today, focuses on an unusual group of people. More about that in a moment.   As an octogenarian who never knows how many more Thanksgiving Days he will see, I’m engaged in a bit of reflection today regarding my third career---working with and for incarcerated men and women,   Before I get into that, I want to stress how grateful I am for our team---a fine Executive Director who leads HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS, as well as our dedicated staff, our enthusiastic volunteers, our supportive Board of Directors, and especially the many, many kind and generous people who see that we have the financial backing to continue our incredible work.   OK. Here’s what I’m especially thankful for: I thank God for the multitude of friends that I have who are behind bars or who formerly resided in prison!   Contrary to what you might think, everyone who is incarcerated is not a mean, unpleasant, hardened criminal. I cannot begin to count them all, but I’d wager that I have dear friend
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When your name becomes just a number

I first met Jim Samuels in the early 2000s. He was a highly respected defense attorney with an office in Big Rapids, Michigan. I had just started a fledgling organization called INNOCENT (later to become HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS), with an office in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Together, we were attending a national Innocence Network conference in another state.   Upon learning that we were from the same general area, and that we had similar feelings and intentions regarding incarceration and wrongful conviction, a friendship developed. Over the years, Jim became more than a friend…he was a supporter, an encourager.   One of the unusual characteristics of Jim Samuels is that he’s not only a lawyer…he’s also an actor and a writer! And so, when he represents people accused of crimes, he not only sees their story from a legal perspective. The artist side of him gives him an incredible sensitivity to their needs, feelings and emotions!   Jim and I are hoping to collaborate in the creation of
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Our judicial system is failing! So are we!

I have a new appreciation for my dear friend Maurice Carter today.   For those of you who are not familiar with this story, Maurice spent 29 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. In the mid-1990s I joined hands with him in an effort to seek his release, a project that lasted almost a decade. We never got an exoneration, but in 2004 Maurice’s sentenced was commuted for health reasons. He died at the age of 60, just three months after he stepped into freedom.   One of the most admirable things about this kind, gentle man was that, after all he suffered under this terrible episode of misjustice, he was not bitter. His mind was good, his spirits were high, and despite immense suffering, he enjoyed his final three months.   An award-winning filmmaker has documented that story in a 45-minute video entitled: Wronged---The Maurice Carter Story. Last night we were proud to show that video to an audience of some 50 persons at Cooley Law School in Lansing. I counted at least 4 wr
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Bad stories make good Christmas gifts

There’s a new book on the market, and everyone should read it.   I must admit that there’s a selfish goal as I write this column…I want to promote an old book, as well. It’s gift-giving time, so please think about these books.   The new book is called FRAMED, and its co-authors are John Grisham and Jim McCloskey. Grisham has written numerous legal fiction novels. He also published an outstanding book in 2006 that tells a true story: THE INNOCENT MAN. McCloskey is the founder of a fine, faith-based innocence project called Centurion Ministries. As of today, some 70 wrongly convicted people are free, thanks to their excellent work.   The new book tells ten dramatic stories, and it’s a must read!   In the book’s preface, Grisham says: …every wrongful conviction deserves its own book. He goes on to say: Our goal with this book is to raise awareness of wrongful convictions and in some way help to prevent more of them.   That is exactly the position I took some 15 years ago when I
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Elephant in the room: Child support!

A recent story in the Wall Street Journal highlights a serious problem facing prisoners : child support payments.   Writer Howard Husock focuses on Black men behind bars, and chooses to blame Kamala Harris for overlooking the problem.   We take a much broader approach. This is a problem facing all incarcerated men, regardless of color, and attention to this serious problem should be extended to more than just political candidates.   Here’s the situation in a nutshell. Fathers have no way of making child support payments while incarcerated. Then, when they get released, reality hits them in the face with a frustrating combination of a prison record plus child support payments. The National Institute of Justice reports that, “one of the biggest obstacles to reentry is the size of a parent’s child support debt, which averages $20,000 to $36,000, depending on the state and the data used.”   So, these guys get out of prison, and if, with a stroke of luck they’re able to get legal e
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Maurice Carter: dead. Maurice Carter’s legacy: alive and well!

" When I get out, I’m going to get me a Cadillac just like that one! Maurice Carter and I were standing on a beautiful site along Michigan’s longest river: the Grand River. He was living in a nearby senior care facility, and he was in bad health.   Pointing to the car in a nearby parking lot, he said, “Not a new one. Just a nice used car!”   Melancholy hits me every year on October 24 and 25. That’s when Maurice died. It marked the end of an emotional decade in my life. It marked the beginning of an amazing final chapter of my life!   I first met the man in the mid-1990s when a Michigan prisoner said to me: “I’m not the only person who was wrongly convicted in Berrien County! I’d like you to meet Maurice Carter.”   Here was a dear Black man, financially indigent, no support group, only a few family members…unable to attract anyone’s attention, claiming innocence.   As an experienced journalist, I looked into this case, it was true!   So, I joined up with him. Maurice Car
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Prisoner reentry: The punishment continues!

A couple of former prisoners sat in our office the other day. One of our clients, a friend of mine who had served 16 years (all the while claiming innocence), was finally paroled a few years ago. He and I met with our Executive Director, who also served time for a crime he did not commit. But, the frustration being shared was not over innocence or guilt issues. The topic was reentry.   Al had a difficult time getting a driver’s license. Even though he had maintained a high grade-point average in community college courses during incarceration, he found it difficult to get a job upon release. He had been approved for some good positions…that is, until his prison record was discovered. The same thing happened when he wanted to continue his education. Even one of the fine Christian colleges in the area turned him down…donors might not like it!   And that reminded me of numerous unpleasant reentry stories.   Maurice Carter was seriously ill after 29 years of incarceration. He was appr
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