Humanity for Prisoners

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, ...