On things that led to a name change

 

August, 2026, marks the 25th anniversary of Humanity for Prisoners. Founder Doug Tjapkes reflects on early experiences in this month’s essays. 


“Are you Mister Doug?”

I was walking to my car in the parking lot of INNOCENT’s new office in downtown Muskegon, Michigan. The year was 2004 and I had just moved into donated office space in the old Muskegon County jail. The move was not public information and I have no idea how someone tracked me down. But she did. 

I turned around and found a young Black teenaged girl looking up at me. I responded, “Yes, I’m Doug.” 

Somehow this little girl not only knew who I was but also what I was doing. She was aware of the work of INNOCENT. 

Then she started telling me her story.

Her daddy was in prison in one of the 3 facilities right there in Muskegon operated by the Michigan Department of Corrections. She tearfully explained that he had cancer and that he was dying. “Can you help me?” 

A reminder, here, that I had started this organization in 2001 prompted by my dear friend Maurice Carter…still serving time for a crime he did not commit. Our goal, in starting this agency, was primarily, to help incarcerated men and women who were innocent. Appropriately, we gave it the name INNOCENT! 

So, when this young lady came to me about illness and death behind bars, I not only had no answers…I had no experience in such matters! My work was focused on trying to help the wrongly convicted. 

How to get this man out of prison to spend his final hours surrounded by family? How to learn more about end-of-life care? I tried making calls, to do some checking. Sadly, her father died one week later. I was ashamed. I had done nothing to help this child and her family. The least I could do, (perhaps, if nothing else, to ease my conscience), was to attend the man’s funeral. It was held in the parlor of a Black-owned funeral home in Muskegon and, even though I sat in the back row, I drew some attention. I was the only white person in the room! 

Experiences like this convinced me and our directors that our mission had to be expanded. There were people behind bars who definitely belonged there but who also deserved humane care. We could not ignore issues such as lack of proper medical care and lack of special end-of-life provisions for families in our state prisons. 

Our mission began to change right away. It had to. 

Our name change came later. Humanity for Prisoners: Our mission in 3 words! 

The rest is history. In the past 25 years our work has touched thousands of lives of those persons in custody, as well as their families, on a multitude of important issues, including death and dying. 

That little Black girl made a difference.

 “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” ---Nelson Mandela

 

 

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