Humanity for Prisoners

Hospice was on my mind a lot in the early 2000s. Number one, my wife Marcia had been a certified hospice nurse for 2 decades. Number two, my full-time job was leading and running HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS, and there were numerous shameful stories about death and dying.   I felt the need for genuine hospice programs in our state prisons and wanted to do something about it.   I hosted a town meeting on the topic in Grand Haven with a panel of experts. I then went a step further by conferring with Hospice of Michigan. I and HOM representatives made a presentation to the top brass at the Michigan Department of Corrections. We felt it was an offer for help that the state could not reject. We were wrong. We were told that the prison system’s hospice-type program called CHOICES was more than adequate (it wasn’t!). That’s an acronym: It stands for Choose, Health Options, Initiate Care, and Educate Self. The message to our team was clear: thanks but no, thanks.   I provide all ...

  The year: 2004   The scene: A tiny examination room in the Michigan prison hospital in Jackson   The occupants: Michigan Parole Board Chair, Maurice Carter and Doug Tjapkes   The event: A Parole board interview/hearing   Parole Board Chair Rubitschun : “If I told you that you could walk out of here right now as a free man would you confess to the crime of shooting officer Tom Schadler?”   Maurice Carter, #145902 : “I would never confess to something I didn’t do!”   I was there as Maurice’s rep. The room was filled with so much medical equipment I was forced to stand. I had been at Maurice’s side since the mid-1990s fighting for his freedom. He had served 29 years for a crime that he did not commit. A team of attorneys and Innocence Projects was making little headway in seeking exoneration, and then came a medical emergency. Maurice was rushed to a nearby hospital in Lapeer where it was determined that he was suffering from Hepatitis C/end...

The older I get (I’m approaching 90!) the more I think, following my comments at an event, what I should have said. For example, I was a member of a panel at the Wealthy Theater in Grand Rapids last weekend for the Can Film Festival’s screening of WRONGED: THE MAURICE CARTER STORY.   After hearing about wrongful convictions and shortcomings of our judicial system, I was asked: “What can we (the public) do?”   I had to think quickly, so I responded by advising everyone to express their opinions at the polls. Michigan lawmakers have been reluctant to take any action on issues that could bring about change. Later I got to thinking about how I could have elaborated.   Local   -Prosecutors are elected. Choose one who is open to alternative sentencing, who doesn’t press for quick plea deals to avoid trial, and who doesn’t oppose the supreme court’s order to resentence juvenile offenders having life sentences with no parole. -When you hear and read about police of...

Michigan’s only prison for women has drawn a lot of attention recently. Family members, observers and even state lawmakers have called for the resignation of   MDOC Director Heidi Washington following 4 recent deaths at the facility. As a result of these pressures, reported almost daily in the media, the warden of Women’s Huron Valley (WHV) took a leave of absence and the MDOC Director actually moved her office into the Ypsilanti facility for a while.   Despite all of that, a couple of whistleblowers tell HFP things haven’t really changed all that much.   On the subject of retaliation: - “ Many of the women here are scared to speak up due to the retaliation becoming worse and worse. The director may have walked off, but nothing has gotten better. Many of our voices are being silenced due to fear. Just because we did wrong, does not mean we deserve to be treated this way!” - “If I make any suggestions or try to help I am cussed out or shoved out of the programs.” ...

Many of us (especially parents) involved in prisoner advocacy actually grieve on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day! Occupants of our prisons are no different than you and me. Those holidays are special for us, and incarcerated men and women wish it could be special for them, also. It’s not.   Shortly after Father’s Day, 2026, (which I was blessed to observe with kids, grandkids and 2 great grandkids!) I came upon a program in California that has promise. I’d like to see it get started it Michigan.   It all began 26 years ago when a group of Catholic sisters and laywomen made visits to a couple of women’s prisons in California. One heartbreaking theme emerged repeatedly: "We never see our children."   So, they did something about it! The program is called “Get on the bus.”   “Get on the Bus” brings children and their caregivers from throughout the State of California to visit their mothers and fathers in prison. This statewide prison visiting program trains and e...

Insisting that residents of Michigan’s prisons come up with a copay before they can receive medical or dental help just doesn't make sense!   If you live in any one of the state prisons in Michigan you must cough up $5 before you can see a medical specialist in healthcare. On the surface that doesn’t seem like much. But, you must factor in prison wages for those who are fortunate enough to get a job. The pay scale is likely to be in the area of 70 cents an hour.   Now consider how rotten the food program is in our prisons…bad food and small portions. So, that prompts those who live behind bars to use the vending machines and microwave ovens. When they have only a few bucks to spend, and the choice is between food or medical care, guess which one wins!   I’m bringing this up, once again, because I just saw a note that said the MDOC collected more than $126,000 in medical and dental copays during the 2025 fiscal year. The MDOC annual budget exceeds $2.1 billion! That...

Every Father’s Day, when I’m treated royally by kids, grandkids, and great grandkids, my mind goes to those grandpas, dads and sons who are behind bars. For them, there’s no frivolity, no celebration today.   Some years ago, in honor of Father’s Day, the CAN-DO Foundation collected a series of quotes, reflections, stories and insights from numerous men inside prison who will not participate in the normal festivities that most of us will enjoy today. I share a few.   Craig: “Fourteen years before my arrest, I realized an instinct I never considered when I looked into the eyes of a seven-pound newborn, not much bigger than a loaf of bread. She reached out to me for everything, and it was my honor to deliver. Following my arrest, I failed to show for the graduation ceremony, the Father/Daughter Dance, and to mean-mug the first date.”   Michael: “I was so certain that I was going to receive clemency that I gave away all my art supplies and brushes. My father was very ...

Today is Juneteenth…officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated every year on June 19 to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. The holiday's name, first used in the 1890s, is a blend of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” referring to June 19, 1865, the day when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War.   It is indeed a day of celebration, but as I was preparing this piece I ran across Marsha P. Johnson’s quote: “ How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race?”   My response: It still hasn’t happened!   My work focuses on the plight of incarcerated men and women, and in the HFP office we’re finding that Blacks are still far from getting fair treatment!   When it comes to getting into trouble -Communities of color are...

As the 25 th birthday of Humanity for Prisoners approaches, I’m writing some essays that help to explain where we came from and where we are going.   My friend Tommy suggests that the title should be something like, “If you see a problem, even with no experience, do something about it!” Actually, his language was a bit stronger, suggesting that one get off his or her posterior. That kind of wording didn’t seem quite appropriate for this piece.   Anyway, it is true that 25 years ago, this broadcast journalist and church musician knew absolutely nothing about prisons and their inhabitants. After nearly 10 years of visiting my friend Maurice Carter, serving time for a crime he did not commit, I became fully aware of the way incarcerated men and women are being treated…or mistreated.   At Maurice’s suggestion, it seemed like it was time get our hands out of our pockets and do something about it. As a result, today we have an organization with a title that describes our w...

I’ve never forgotten that line. 80 years ago I was paging through my mom’s newest edition of the Saturday Evening Post when I spotted a drawing of a kid carrying a little crippled guy on his back. The caption: “He ain’t heavy, Mister, he’s my brother!”   The phrase goes back to 1918.   A boy named Howard Loomis was abandoned by his mother at Father Flanagan’s Home for Boys, which had opened just a year earlier. Howard had polio and wore heavy leg braces. Walking was difficult for him, especially when he had to go up or down steps. Soon, several of the Home’s older boys were carrying Howard up and down the stairs. One day, Father Flanagan asked Reuben Granger, one of those older boys, if carrying Howard was hard. Reuben replied, “He ain’t heavy, Father… he’s m’ brother.”   It’s been a copyrighted slogan for Boys Town ever since. Now, as I’m compiling short quotes from HFP clients for our newsletter, I’m thinking that phrase also fits our work very well.   Hu...

There was a time in the early days of HFP that I was struggling with numerous prison guard issues, and none of them were good. Some correctional officers were seriously mistreating men and women in their facilities.   In frustration, I referred to that situation in a speech I was delivering at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids. I had been invited to speak to a group of senior citizens, in a meeting on the campus, to share information about our work and our mission. I’ve always been more than pleased to do this.   Granted, I was quite unkind in my references to prison guards.   Following my presentation, as usual, I hosted a Q&A session. A pleasant elderly woman with beautiful gray hair, sitting near the front, raised her hand. In her sweet, kind voice she said, “My son is a correctional officer.” She went on to say, “He has a college degree, he loves his job and is proud of his work.”   That was a stark reminder to me that I must watch my step and not be pa...

 M emorial Day, 2026.   An octogenarian reflects.   I remember the Memorial Day parades in the 1940s, during and after World War Two. Somber events, followed by somber ceremonies. Soldiers marching. Wives and mothers wiping tears.   I remember Memorial Day in the 1960s, when I owned and operated radio station WGHN in Grand Haven. I gave the announcers time off on that day and personally ran the programming. Patriotic music. Tributes to vets. Updates on the annual Indy 500 race.   2026. I’ve spent the last thirty years as a prisoner advocate and now I’m approaching the age of 90.   Today there were parades in our area. High school bands marched. These processions were concluded with meaningful ceremonies. My neighbors had outdoor barbecues, guys played Cornhole, hosts flipped hamburger patties on the charcoal grill. On the TV screen newscasts showed clips of somber ceremonies in the nation’s capital and across the U.S.A.   At the conclusion ...

  "Every death in prison is a story left untold, a life unfulfilled." Angela Davis   I was conversing with Heidi Washington, newly appointed Director of the Michigan Department of Corrections. After words of congratulations, I expressed my concern about the way our state treats incarcerated women. She agreed and assured me that there would be improvement.   That was ten years ago. I still haven’t seen it.   There’s only one prison for women. Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility is located in Ypsilanti. My opinion on the way women are treated there was NOT based on hearsay.   1.    I had published an expose by a former MDOC plumber who said he quit because he saw, first hand, how the state treated these women and he couldn’t take it any longer! 2. -  I had shared a group of messages scribbled to us by WHV whistleblowers on napkins and little scraps of paper with the ACLU. That led to an in-prison investigation by the U.S. Departm...

Writer Bankole Thompson’s column in Monday’s Detroit News struck a chord with me.   “ No matter what side you sit on in the war with Iran, the skyrocketing gas prices, which have hit $6 in some parts of the country, are affecting everyone .”   He went on to say that among the hardest hit are those persons living on fixed incomes. That leads me to my discussion today, because I’m guessing that many families of incarcerated men and women may not be on fixed income, but very likely are in the low-to-mid income bracket.   That got me to thinking about prison visits and how seriously gas prices will unquestionably affect visitation. Studies have shown that prison visits not only strengthen family bonds, providing emotional support to inmates, but also aid in the rehabilitation process and reduce recidivism rates.   First, let’s consider the remote locations of some of our prisons.   We have a number of correctional facilities in the Upper Peninsula. For fam...

In November I’ll turn 90! I suppose it’s natural, then, that my thoughts about death increase, along with my age.   Like many of you, I’ve experienced death of loved ones over the years: grandparents, parents, in-laws, a sister, a spouse. But that is not what's on my mind these days. For the past three decades I have been working with men and women who live behind bars. As the founder of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS it has been my goal to produce an annual memorial service for those persons who died in custody in the previous year. Here in Michigan, that number can range from 130 – 200.   This year that proposed service is finally going to become a reality! An HFP committee is diligently working to make it happen.   As I research the topic and compile materials for such a service, I am especially saddened by the number of men and women who have no family or friends at the time of death. Last year, for example, no one claimed the remains of 32 prisoners. With no fanfare, n...