Humanity for Prisoners

I know, just watching TV news or reading the newspaper is enough to make you angry.  You don’t need anything else to fuel the fire.  Or do you? I’m suggesting that you take a bold step next weekend, and spend ten dollars on a ticket for a program that’ll not only make you mad, but also change the way you think.  I’ll bet on it. JUSTICE FOR MAURICE HENRY CARTER is a great stage play.  It’s going to be presented in the sanctuary of FERRYSBURG COMMUNITY CHURCH next Friday evening, December 5, at 7:30 PM.  And if you can’t get there then, there’ll be two repeat performances on Saturday the 6 th at 2 PM and 7:30 PM. On the surface, it might appear that playwrights Donald Molnar and Alicia Payne have simply used drama to paint a delightful love story about Maurice Carter and me.  If that’s all you get out of this, I’ll be terribly disappointed. The playwrights, instead, have masterfully used music and the spoken word to convey a serious message ...

Something beautiful happened in Muskegon. A candle-light vigil was held on the campus of Muskegon High School over the weekend to discuss the way their friend Jessica Lynn Brewster has impacted their lives.  In case you haven’t read or heard, Jessica is the 17 year old girl now being held on an open murder charge, after the body of her newborn baby was found buried nearby. Muskegon senior Elizabeth Kurdziel, who organized the event, was quoted as saying, “We’re here in remembrance of Jessica’s baby and to support her.”  And the phrase that was being used time and again, one which began on Facebook, was: We are Jessica. This may not seem like a relevant topic for the guys who run HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS.  To the contrary, it’s one that Matt and I have been talking about, and one that deserves a lot of discussion. Another life is at stake here.  If the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office goes ahead with a charge of first degree murder, and gets a convic...

Is the headline a bit sarcastic?  Yes. Word of another prison death came to our office again this week.  I use the inmate's number in our headline, not to offend the family, but instead to point out that prisoners are just a number.  Her name was Sabrie Lorain Alexander, she was a real human being, and in our opinion she didn't have to die.  I'm going to let one of our courageous whistle-blowers tell the story, in her own words.  But first, a quick explanation.  POA is a job for which some inmates are chosen and trained.  It's a successful program where inmate observers watch prisoners who may be contemplating suicide, or who have other issues.  Here's her story: We had another incident here. We had a young women here in her twenties, black. She was a level II, out date in 2016. She was in the Infirmary on Observation. She had a seizure. The POA TOLD the officer that Alexander was having a seizure. The Officer said 'Oh, she'll ...

I sent condolences to two friends this week who lost elderly parents.  Even though we completely understand that our parents are getting old and that we cannot keep them forever, it’s still a loss.  In both of these cases, my friends were near their parent at the time of death, and were able to grieve in the midst of family and loved ones. I was also reminded this week that experiencing the death of family members is not the same for people behind bars. One of our board members reported that her friend behind bars had lost a loved one.  Her words: I got a note from Karen today.  Her brother died.  That is her second loss this year.   She lost another brother earlier this year.  My heart is breaking for her.  And there she sits.  And will sit for probably the rest of her life.  I am so sad for the family that will grieve without her and for her to grieve alone.  She knows Christ.  She trusts in Christ.  Sh...

The thief on the cross would never have survived the scrutiny of the Michigan Parole Board and the Michigan Attorney General’s office.  Jesus forgave.  We won’t. The older I get, and the more I work in this prisoner advocacy business, the more I become convinced that we won’t really see forgiveness in our criminal justice system.  Ever. It ain’t gonna happen. I testified in another public hearing today, held by the Michigan Parole Board.  I cannot prove this, but I sense that these hearings are grudgingly held in a spirit of skepticism.  In many of the hearings where I have testified, there is a snowball’s chance that the inmate will actually be granted a parole.  We’re a “tough on crime” state, and by God, if someone has committed a heinous crime in Michigan, he or she will pay! I know that when I make my pitch, I’m perceived as a left-wing “do-gooder,” who wants to free all the prisoners.  I can see that in the eyes of the Parole Board c...

So here’s the deal. If you agree that if kids are too young to drink, too young to smoke, too young to drive, they should also be too young to receive life sentences or to serve time with hardened criminals in adult prisons; If you agree that it’s time for Michigan to release many of its older, medically fragile and incapacitated prisoners; If you agree that successor judges should not have veto-power over Parole Board decisions; If you agree that the Michigan Parole Board is taking over the sentencing role of judges in many cases, especially those involving CSC convictions; If you agree that Michigan sentencing guidelines should be revised to better ensure that similar offenders who commit similar offenses receive similar sentences; If you agree with national and state research that shows that simply keeping people in prison longer does not keep the public safer; If you agree that it’s time to change Michigan’s reputation of keeping people behind bars long...