Humanity for Prisoners

  As guest speaker for a senior citizens seminar on a college campus I was invited to explain the work of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS.   I make extensive use of anecdotes in my public presentations about this work. Facts and figures may be impressive to a few people, but stories about the lives of fellow human beings are far more attention-getting.   In that the HFP staff helps men and women with many issues and problems they face living in Michigan’s 27 correctional facilities you can well imagine that many of my stories have a negative flavor. Before concluding my speech, I had some unpleasant things to say about prison guards and their mistreatment of inmates. At the conclusion of my presentation a very nice elderly woman politely raised her hand. “I have a son who is a corrections officer,” she had. “He has a college degree, he does his job well, and he loves his work!” That was an important reminder for me: All the apples in the bushel are not rotten!   That li...

  “Prison education is a concept whose time has come. It is time to stop studying the issue and stop discoursing. It is time to start the ball rolling and do something about it.” ― Christopher Zoukis, federal prison consultant   I’m proud to report that Pure Michigan IS doing something about it!   Prison Journalism Project, an independent non-profit, recently published this exciting information:   The state Legislature recently allocated $3.9 million to transform an unused industrial-scale warehouse within Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer into a self-contained college center. The college will provide higher education classes to all of the over 1,000 state prisoners held at the prison. Once completed, the campus building will house dozens of classrooms, a computer room without internet, a library and a small cafe with food available for purchase by professors and students.  To be eligible, prisoners must be incarcerated at this medium security prison...

  We are blessed to have your support!   My message, on behalf of the HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS team, is extended to all who see that we meet our financial obligations day in and day out. I felt this message was important after reading a recent newspaper story about giving in America.  I learned, for example, that American adults under the age of 45 don’t feel like giving one cent to charity !   Here’s what else the AP survey showed:             -¾ said their household gave to a charitable organization;             -¼ said their household made no donations;             -4 in 10 support helping people in U.S. who need food, shelter, etc.;             -4 in 10 donate to religious organizations; and -The average one-time gift is around $121,...

Some years ago a member of our staff added these words to our June newsletter: “Happy Pride Month!”   Response was immediate, and not always positive. One person, whom I know to be a devout Christian, chose to stop her monthly support contribution. She and I differ in the way we interpret the word “evangelical.”   Well, here we are in the month of June, once again, and that incident and those memories don’t make me angry, don’t make me proud…they make me sad.   When I started this organization 24 years ago, there was no intention to favor one group, one race, one religion, one anything. Our mission was simple: Help those who need help!   During Pride Month 2025 it’s appropriate that we focus on those prisoners who really need our attention as they struggle with sexual identity issues.   -Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more than twice as likely to be arrested as straight people — and lesbian and bisexual women, specifically, are more than four t...

Bold headline in the Sunday newspaper: Feeding residents on less than $10 a day? ‘That’s appallingly low.”   The feature story was written by NJ Advance and MLive reporters. The focus was on food in our nation’s nursing homes. A study showed that a quarter of these facilities spent under $10 a day to feed their residents. Some were as low as $4-6 per day! “Appallingly low,” exclaimed David C. Grambowski, Harvard Professor of Health Care Policy   If you think that’s low, you ain’t heard nothin’! Let’s compare the expense of prison meals with that of nursing home meals. In our country m ost states spend less than $3 per person per day on prison food. Some spend as little as $1.02 per person per day! Right here in Pure Michigan, I’m ashamed to report that the daily cost to feed a prisoner in a state prison is estimated to be around $1.98. Now THAT’S appallingly low!   It is not uncommon for the office of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS to receive complaints that include substa...

I have a confession. In my spare time, I like to read legal thrillers. I know, I know…perhaps I should be reading War and Peace. But, these novels, featuring court battles between prosecutors and defense attorneys, give me a lot of insight. As a worker with prisoners for more than 2 decades, I’m also learning that the feelings and emotions of defendants often get tossed aside. Winning and losing seems to be the game.   Well, anyway, I recently picked up a very decent novel by James Chandler.   I know very little about James Chandler. I do know this: He earned his law degree George Mason University School of Law, and practiced law in Wyoming for twelve years before his appointment to the bench.   What I don’t know interests me even more. Somehow, he relates well with people who have been in prison. It almost sounds like he might have had a taste of it, or else he became very close to someone who had lived through these experiences.   For example, on the topic ...

  I was born in 1936 in Hackley Hospital, Muskegon, Michigan. I share some Memorial Day memories dating back to the 40s.   -I remember the attack on Pearl Harbor. -I remember “black-out” sirens, and the fear I felt when every light in the entire city was turned off. Blackouts were implemented to reduce visibility from the air, making cities and potential targets less visible to enemy aircraft, particularly bombers. -I remember nightmares, dreaming that Adolph Hitler was hiding under my bed. -I remember Memorial Day parades that bore no resemblance to the celebrative processions of today. They were quiet, the atmosphere was somber, and mothers along the parade route wept. -I remember seeing service flags in the windows of our neighbors, showing that they had sons or daughters serving in the military. These flags featured blue stars, with each star representing a family member in the service. The blue star was converted to gold if that family member died in service. ...

The press is taking a lot of hits these days. “Fake News” has become a popular phrase in some political circles. As a professional broadcast journalist, I suggest, however, that you join me in thanking the media for coverage of critical state prison issues in Michigan.   We’ve heard a lot in recent months!   The Detroit News   Craig Mauger: Audit reports released Thursday raised concerns about the safety of Michigan’s prisons, finding corrections officers often failed to properly search vehicles and prisoners’ cells and determining metal detectors weren’t uncovering possibly hazardous items.   The Detroit Free Press   Paul Egan wrote a series of Freep articles about five fatal plunges at two Jackson area prisons. That prompted this story a few weeks ago : A Senate panel on April 24 recommended spending $15 million to improve the safety of railings at Michigan prisons. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary included the pla...

I’ll be playing the organ for John Mulder’s memorial service on Sunday, May 18. My heart is heavy.   Dr. John Mulder was not only a physician, loving husband and father, devout Christian, gifted musician, and internationally recognized palliative care expert. I am honored to boast that he was also my friend !   John died at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville on May 1, his body finally rejecting a transplanted lung that had extended his life by 8 years. He was 74.   I could spend time telling of his extraordinary skills as a physician, of the hundreds of babies he lovingly and tenderly brought into this world, of the miraculous intervention in my personal medical history, of his internationally recognized skills in palliative care, and of his incredible musicianship, but, this is a HUMANTY FOR PRISONERS site. Still, the accolades are legion.   John didn’t get involved with incarcerated men and women until I did…and if that goal was good enough for me, it was goo...

 T he Guardian, a British daily newspaper: Revealed: Autopsy suggests South Carolina botched firing squad execution. Records obtained by the Guardian indicate shooters did not hit Mikal Mahdi according to protocol, which lawyers say caused prolonged suffering.   To set up this report, I quote from my HFP essay on March 10: “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, Brad Sigmon was allowed to choose between three inhumane methods of execution—lethal injection, electrocution, or firing squad.”   On April 11 the state carried out its second execution by firing squad . We never heard much about it, but the procedure did...

Marla Mitchel, a member of the Humanity for Prisoners Board of Directors, insists that our prison system is broken and that we must start over again. Professor Mitchell knows what she’s talking about. An attorney and former leader of the WMU-Cooley Law School Innocence Project, she speaks from experience.   Today there are approximately 1.9 million people incarcerated in the United States. Only two other countries have stats like these: China, and Russia. Here in Michigan, the state prison population is 32,778.   I really thought we were taking small steps forward. Agreed, it was like climbing our Lake Michigan sand dunes---three steps up and then two back down again. Then, voters chose to make a U-turn. Watching and listening to this president reminds me of the old “law and order” days when our own Governor Engler chose to be tough on crime by building more prisons and locking up more people. Our state’s prison population rose to over 50,000! Crime rates didn’t change. ...

Pope Francis has gone to his eternal home. But his love for prisoners lives on! Recently this headline appeared in the National Catholic Reporter:   In final act of mercy, Pope Francis donates entire private bank account to prisoners!   Writes Camillo Barone, NCR staff reporter: “At the end of his life, Pope Francis made one last symbolic gesture: He emptied his personal bank account to donate 200,000 euros to the prisoners he had long championed. It was a final act of love toward those he had called his 'brothers and sisters behind bars.'"   I don’t know how many essays I’ve written about this pope, a personal hero of mine. Each year when Holy Thursday came around, I was touched anew when Pope Francis made his annual trek to prison where, in touching ceremonies, he washed the feet of inmates.   Holy Thursday arrived shortly before the pope’s death this year. But, writes the NCR journalist, “Not able to wash feet this year on Holy Thursday, even as his streng...

  “No person … shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law …” Fifth Amendment, United States Constitution   Nearly 70 years ago, when I was a young news reporter covering small town crime, our local cops were handed a new ruling, and were they pissed! The new procedure they were forced to use was called the “Miranda Warning.” In 1966 the Supreme Court decided that all criminal suspects must be informed of their constitutional rights before interrogation, particularly their right to remain silent and right to an attorney. Police officers were outraged…another liberal idea in favor of the criminals. Officers carried tiny copies of the Miranda Warning with them which they were forced to read to an alleged “perp” upon making an arrest.   Just getting started in this news reporting business, I rather sided with the cops. It seemed to me that they were doing their best to catch bad people and lock them up.   As years passed, however, ...

Pope Frances died on Easter Monday, and immediately we started reading headline descriptions of the Pontiff like these from around the world: CNN:   The ‘outsider’ pope who faced fierce resistance to his reforms   LA Times: …beloved for his compassion and willingness to shake up scandal-ridden church The Guardian: …who pushed for social and economic justice, and an urgent response to the climate crisis.     On the other hand, leadership from what I call “mass incarceration circles,” such as state corrections directors, prison administrators and wardens, and tough-on-crime politicians, have been less effusive in their descriptions and praise.   I’m going to let specific quotes from a hero to those of us dedicating our lives toward improving the plight of the incarcerated give you a hint as to the subdued response from some quarters.   ON PRISON LIVING CONDITIONS   “…it would appear that in many cases practical measures are urgently needed ...

Holy Week. A week filled with a tsunami of emotions. It’s early in the morning on Easter, and the stories of the past week remind me of so many similar circumstances in my own life.   Take, for example, that best friend of Jesus. Jesus had changed his name from Simon to Peter, and had expressed such high praise for him…said he was going to be the actual head of the church! So, what does Peter do when the chips are down? He denies that he ever knew the guy!   Yep, been there…done that! You’re loved by many when you go about your regular activities in your community…raise a family, go to work every day, go to church every Sunday. BUT, let something bad happen in your life, and it all goes to hell. Following an unfortunate situation, an arrest, a conviction and a sentence, not many friends anymore. I know the feeling. Many of my former associates, and even some family members, act like they never knew me.   Then there was the actual sentence of Jesus. Death on a cross....