Humanity for Prisoners

In this pre-election period we’re hearing a lot of political mumbo-jumbo. My friend was telling me of a politician who, in a town hall meeting, vowed that he was staying with what he described as “core values,” saying he was OK with some voters not liking him because he is “too Christian.” The problem is, those of us with hearts for the downtrodden don’t think his voting record is all that Christian sometimes. Readers of this column know that I’m especially sensitive on this topic. Sister Helen Prejean, whom I describe as a national treasure and a national hero, is renowned for her battle against the death penalty. While discussing that topic with a person of faith recently, however, my friend stated, “I generally can oppose the death penalty, until I think of someone who might have raped and murdered a member of my family. Then I think I could pull the switch.” And that’s the dilemma, isn’t it? There are segments of the Christian community who favor the death penalty...

October 25 is Maurice Carter Day. Here in our office, we observe this day every year, remembering the date that Maurice Carter breathed his last on this earth. He died in 2004. On this Maurice Carter Day, the death penalty is on my mind, probably because I’ve spent time this week with Sister Helen Prejean, prominent death penalty foe. As I introduced her to the audience at a public lecture Tuesday night, I explained that Michigan does not have the death penalty. Then I asked the question, “Or does it?” I used the Maurice Carter story as a typical example. Maurice was wrongly convicted on a charge of assault with intent to commit murder in 1975, and he was given a life sentence. I contend it was a death sentence , based on the following facts: -He was eligible for parole in 15 years, but because of dirty politics, he never even had the opportunity to be paroled. -20 years after his prison doctors diagnosed Hepatitis C, but failed to tell him. One can only assume th...

Not everyone knows this, but Matt Tjapkes is not only the Executive Director of HFP…he’s the voice of the Grand Haven Buccaneers. Matt is a professional play-by-play sports broadcaster when he’s not running our office. The final game of the year was between Grand Haven and Grand Rapids Union. The Buccaneers wasn’t a terrific high school football team this year, and the record hasn’t been very exciting (even though our two grandsons were on the roster). But the GR Union Red Hawks’ record is dismal. And it goes way back. The school is located in an older neighborhood, the football team hasn’t won a game in a long, long time, and nobody even bothers to come out to watch them anymore. A while back, at a high school contest in Muskegon County, there were 4 fans in the stands. So tonight, Grand Haven finally had excitement in the stadium…the Bucs tromping the opposition. At half-time, 35-0. It was raining, and it was cold, but our local fans finally had something to cheer about. Fo...

My friend Jerry has an interesting perspective on the #MeToo Movement. Jerry Metcalf resides in a Michigan prison, and he points out that it’s not just female prisoners who support this protest movement. The subject strikes home for guys. “That's because,” he says, “many prisoners have experienced it, too. Everything the system does to us is designed to tear us down, to degrade us. I imagined a woman with a couple of kids. She has to keep a job to take care of her kids, to feed them and whatnot. So, when she’s at work and her boss sexually harasses her or grabs her, she just grins and bears it. That’s  us,  I thought.” For example… “A guard once made me eat off the floor (literally)! Others degrade us and don’t even know they’re doing it. I remember a guard who used to stand in the chow hall and constantly belittle our food. She’d scrunch up her face and say things like: ‘That looks disgusting,’ or ‘I wouldn’t feed that crap to my dogs.’ It wasn’t like we could g...

Denials are arriving by the boatload in the Michigan prison system. Many inmates who deserve a second chance are not being considered for clemency by Governor Snyder. And that’s a shame. Darnell Epps, student at Cornell University who served 17 years for a violent crime, wrote a great op-ed piece in the New York Times, titled: The Prison ‘Old-Timers’ Who Gave Me Life. “A ging inmates,” he said, “some serving life sentences, helped me turn my life around.” His next sentence is important: “ They could do even more good on the outside.” We’re tough on crime in Michigan! We like to “throw away the key.” Right now more than 8% of Michigan prisoners are 60 and older…some 75 of them over the age of 80! Our friend Doug, age 54, who has served 33 years, has had the door slam shut on every opportunity for reentry into society, and that saddens us. A teacher, mentor, and a person who has done so much good behind bars, he deserves a new crack at freedom. Besides that, he could do eve...

Here’s a neat story about Penny. Actually, it’s about Penny and HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. If you haven’t caught it by now, we’re the place prisoners go when they don’t know where to turn. Penny got convicted of a non-violent charge in Detroit in 2008, and was given probation. In 2015, she apparently violated probation and was sent to prison for 3-10 years. But that was an error. The most she should have received was 3-5 years. Nobody caught it. Nobody, that is, except Penny. The state’s legal counsel helped her appeal, but the Michigan Court of Appeals said no. Not one to just let things drop, Penny---a 63-year-old African American---spent her time in the prison’s law library, and all by herself went all the way to top. And wonder of wonders, the Michigan Supreme Court agreed with her! The order came down that she must be sent back for re-sentencing. That was in May, 2017. Since then, nothing happened. No word from anybody, the five years   served, and she’s sti...

It was a wrongful conviction case that got me started on this journey. My friend Maurice Carter, whom I came to call my brother, served 29 years for a crime he did not commit. Not a week goes by that we don’t encounter another claim of innocence. October 2 is International Wrongful Conviction Day, and once again the general public will take a look at the title, grumble that they hope it never happens to them, perhaps mutter that all prisoners say they are innocent, and go about their daily tasks. Well, I think it’s worth breaking down a few statistics to give this some meaning. Take a look at these numbers and see how this information hits you: 3-5% of all prisoners are innocent. Which means that We have more than 1,000 wrongly convicted inmates right here in Michigan. Which breaks down to Approximately 40 in every   state prison.             So we can conclude that Possibly 80 or more innocent people r...