Humanity for Prisoners

Brad Sigmon was shot to death last week. It was his choice.   Sigmon, age 67, was executed by firing squad on March 9 in South Carolina. He was the first person to die by firing squad in the United States in 15 years.   If there were such a thing as humanity for prisoners, our organization would not exist. But, even with what little humanity you might find in our justice system, it took a step backward last week! Having experienced some horrific experiences with lethal injections, the State of South Carolina responded by offering alternatives to prisoners facing execution. After being convicted on a murder charge, Sigmon was allowed to choose between three inhumane methods of execution—lethal injection, electrocution, or firing squad.   A personal note. It's not at all uncommon or unexpected that I consistently criticize capital punishment. Early in my career as a prisoner advocate I actually witnessed an execution. My buddy/client Charles Anthony Nealy was executed...

Call it vanity if you wish, but when I was a young, aggressive broadcast journalist I coveted the title “award-winning” for my news department.   As a teenager I aspired to become a good radio news reporter. I had no formal training in the field, so it was up to me to establish and follow my own curriculum. I worked hard at it, and eventually became a respectable and respected newsman. Over time my small-market radio news department became incredibly good and nationally recognized. But, I wanted awards. We never got them.   Some radio news departments that were receiving honors were so large they actually had staff members preparing materials for annual award entries. Others had large enough departments to assign team-members to prepare documentaries and investigative features hoping for awards.   But, here’s what I’m finally getting.   While these award-seekers did their best to get recognition every year, my little team and I were doing our darndest to serv...

One of my teeth broke a few months ago. I’ve learned that the teeth of octogenarians are not as strong and healthy as those of teenagers. I immediately contacted the office of my dentist, fearing the worst because it’s an incredibly busy office. No worries. A very nice member of the staff found a cancelation, and I was able to get an immediate appointment.   That reminded me of a situation I encountered years ago. I was working solo in a much smaller Humanity for Prisoners back then. A Michigan prisoner complained by letter that he had suffered a broken tooth and was experiencing pain from an exposed nerve. Upon contacting the prison dentist he and was informed that he could be seen in about a month!   I’ll bet money that that situation ended up with a removal of the tooth. We continue to hear horror stories about prison dentists…removing teeth instead of repairing them. One dentist explained to an inmate, “I don’t get paid to fix teeth!”   I bring up the issue beca...

We have long deplored the manner in which the Michigan Department of Corrections treats women. Some 2,000 women reside in our state’s only prison for women, located in Ypsilanti. When a plumber employed by the state dared to speak his piece after witnessing the sad treatment of women while he was working at WHV, we put that message out to the public. When a group of whistleblowers among the women dared to sneak abuse messages to HFP, we did something about it. The ACLU jumped in, and a federal investigation was started!   It's no secret that incarcerated women in Michigan face a number of challenges, including trauma, sexual assault, and inadequate health care.   Now it’s time to raise hell once again!   Claiming that this is unlawful, our friends at the American Friends Service Committee bring a deeply disturbing practice to our attention: The MDOC is recording strip searches at Women’s Huron Valley Facility, a blatant breach of dignity and privacy.   Here’s...

Two headlines shouted at me this week! I thought I had written my last piece in observance of Black History Month for 2025. Then, just the other day, MLive newspapers carried this headline:   Black babies in Michigan face triple the mortality rate of white infants before first birthday   T oday, while reading some reports on-line, another headline smacked me:   Ruby Bridges was the first Black child to enter an all-white school in the South. She’s just 70 years of age!   OK, I’m prodded into one more piece.   I remain focused incarceration, prisoners and the justice system on this HFP website. I must tell you that our team encounters racism on a regular basis!   There's a two-tier justice system. And anyone who denies it is either naive or in denial. This is what the reality of America is. If you have certain privileges, if you're from a certain socioeconomic status, you have a certain skin color, the odds are in your favor. ---Ana Kasparian ...

The short answer: I do!   I continue to see an incredible imbalance in news coverage about the release of prisoners. The most flagrant examples of this bias seem to come when TV reporters cover the release of lifers. Some of these people committed crimes when they were teenagers, and the Supreme Court has wisely ruled that we may not give those kids life without parole. Others are perhaps aging, perhaps in failing health, and the Parole Board has decided they are no longer a threat to society.   Recent coverage about a young man who had committed a heinous crime as a teenager really troubled me. The individual had served many years behind bars, and was now a middle-aged man. All who knew him, even those in the prison system, admitted that he was a changed person and a model prisoner.   That made no difference to the victims of the crime.   Neither did it make a difference to TV reporters covering that story.   OK, now I’m going to put on my newsman cap...

I find myself doing a lot of reflecting as we observe Black History Month, 2025.   After all, Black people were not a part of my early life as a white boy of Dutch descent, growing up in a white neighborhood in Muskegon, worshipping in a Christian Reformed Church and attending a Christian School.   But then, I remember seeing a Black kid walking past our house on his way to school. Turns out Billy Green was much nicer than many of the white kids I knew.   My dad, a Muskegon grocer, entered into an agreement to sell unused and discarded produce to Mr. King, a Black pig farmer. He was nicer than many of the white guys who serviced our store.   My parents invited a Black woman from the local county hospital, formerly known as the poor farm, into our home for a Thanksgiving dinner. This delightful lady, with no legs and sitting in a wheelchair, was nicer and more fun than many of our relatives at Thanksgiving dinners.   When getting started in radio broadc...

I sat up until 2 a.m. this morning watching the developing story of a devastating plane crash in Washington DC. The old broadcast newsman in me just couldn’t let it go. All the while I was praying for victims, their families and friends, as well as for first responders and search crews.   When I finally got to bed, I got to thinking. 67 people lost their lives in that accident. But, my prayers should not have been limited. In addition to those victims and their immediate families, there are coworkers, classmates, business associates, and a long list of others who today are deeply affected by this massive loss of life.   And that reminded me of my prayers for incarcerated men and women.   My prayer must not be limited to individual prisoners. Stop to think about it. Also deeply affected by this incarceration are spouses, parents, grandparents, children, uncles, aunts, cousins…the list goes on and on. I have made many prison visits over the years. I can tell you that ...

I was going to edit this quote hoping to keep the word count down. I changed my mind. We, as well as our President, need to hear this:   BISHOP MARIANN EDGAR BUDDE, in 2025 Inaugural Prayer Service, Washington DC:   Let me make one final plea. Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals, they — they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good ne...

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread” --- a line from Alexander Pope's 1709 poem An Essay on Criticism .   Those who have appreciated my editorial writing since the 1950s, as well as those who are disgusted by what I have to say, have often considered the above quote. Yet, here I am at age 88, still rushing in!   On his first day in the White House, President Donald Trump issued formal pardons to more than 1,550 rioters charged with a wide range of crimes in the January 6 uprising, and commuted the sentences of 14 members of far-right groups.   Before we continue, let me give you a quick explanation of the word “pardon.” When a president or a governor grants a pardon, that simply means that a previously convicted person is relieved of guilt and punishment.   Now let’s take a moment to talk about exactly what happened on that day in 2021, a date that our new President has called “A day of love.” More than 140 police officers were assaulted, the Capitol...

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Lions had lost over the weekend. Now, the new week was getting off to a sour start.   Sipping a delicious cup of hot coffee and getting ready for the day/the week, this old newsman started sampling his news sources. Nothing sounded good!   -Temperatures in our area had fallen to single digits, and would remain there for a day or two. (As a senior citizen, I have concerns about possible loss of electricity and water.)   -A local area TV reporter showed videos of the homeless, in tents and under bridges, struggling to survive in this incredibly cold weather. (My heart was broken with exactly the same emotions I feel when seeing tiny children in war zones and beautiful people starving in third world countries. I immediately said a prayer for the homeless, but couldn’t stop thinking about them as I enjoyed the heat of my own furnace.)   -Our President-Elect, in his inauguration address, said terrible things about the former Pre...

  Doug Tjapkes interviews Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK Day, 2025   Doug: I was a young broadcast journalist/newscaster when your name made national headlines. It was apparent from the very beginning that your campaign was not based on anger and hatred . What did you tell your workers? MLK: Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love?   Why no hatred, when you and your people had been treated so shabbily? Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.   And so, your policy, your position? Hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love.   Injustice was certainly at the top of your list. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.   What, then, was your challenge to your co-workers? Will ...

As we begin a new year, prison issues seem overwhelming!   Re the Michigan prison mental health system, Chris says: It's a place where, if you go to try and talk about your problems, they put you in a camera-cell naked with a blanket 24 to 72 hours. All you wanted was someone to talk to.   Re the Michigan prison culinary program, Doug describes the 2024 Christmas dinner : The meal was a mushy gray meat, an apple pie missing the apples and a crust so hard my spork bent in half, and what was supposed to be cheesy potatoes. I plucked a palm sized, uncooked, potato out of the soup, which had never seen cheese because it had been stolen and sold back in the units.   Re the inability to get either the attention of healthcare or the Parole Board, Larry, age 71, says: One of my legs has been surgically removed, I’m struggling to get treatment for lung cancer, and I have heart disease. I have served over 40 years for a parolable offense, yet I cannot seem to attract suitable...

As a veteran broadcast journalist and editorial writer, significant dates often prompted me to write pieces encouraging thought on a given topic. As an octogenarian I nearly let January 6 slide by this year. But, media headlines finally got to me. So here goes!   I picked up my copy of the Detroit News today and spotted this front page headline: Jan. 6 Trump pardons could aid dozens from Mich.   I’m very familiar with pardons. My life is devoted to helping prisoners, and there are many, many men and women in Michigan who deserve  pardons.   First, let me give a quick explanation as to the meaning of this word. When a president or a governor grants a pardon, that simply means that a previously convicted person is relieved of guilt and punishment. For those of you who do not know me, I started an organization 23 years ago called   HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. I, and my team, find that many people locked up in Michigan are worthy of consideration for pardons. Co...