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Maurice Henry Carter March 29, 1944 – October 25, 2004

Some things were never the same after that memorable October 25, 16 years ago. Some things never changed. What changed the most was my life!   My two careers had centered on two of my favorite things: radio and music. My 29 years as a radio broadcaster, and 21 years as a church organ salesman were just exquisite. But that all changed in the mid-1990s when I met an indigent black man from Gary, Indiana, sitting in the Michigan prison system and claiming wrongful conviction. No big deal, right? All prisoners say they’re innocent, right?   Well, the old news reporter in me smelled a rat, and I wasn’t wrong. This was an innocent man who had been caged in the hoosegow since the 1970s for something he didn’t do. Thus began a 9-year effort to free a wrongly convicted prisoner the likes of which had never been seen in the State of Michigan.   Sadly, Maurice Carter, who over time became my brother and a member of my family, was never exonerated. His release in July, 2004, ...
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Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w...
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No visits? No hope, no future!

  Joyce was on the line. I have no idea how Joyce got my telephone number, but the mother of two adult sons in prison was calling me from Detroit. A Black senior citizen on fixed income and battling cancer had heard of HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. She asked me to check on one of her sons who, she felt, was becoming suicidal.   I readily agreed, but my next question was why didn’t she personally visit her son? Then came the tears. Months ago, when Joyce was getting checked in to visit one of her sons, the desk officer informed her that she had to go home. Prison visits were banned because a bench warrant had been issued due to unpaid traffic tickets. Being on a fixed income, it was traffic tickets or groceries for Joyce. She chose to keep on eating.   I’ll make this story very short. Assisted by several national agencies HFP, within days, raised money for her traffic tickets, personally delivered the money to her and the judge. She was finally able to see her boys...the fir...
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