Humanity for Prisoners

  I’m reading a lot about the UAW (United Auto Workers union) these days. Auto workers are on strike, hoping to get better wages and working conditions from the big three automakers. The UAW boasts about 12,700 members.   I’m not reading a lot about another union : MCO (Michigan Corrections Organization). The MCO Service Employees International Union, which represents about 6,000 Corrections Officers and other MDOC employees, is facing a major issue.   I’m reading a lot about Michigan’s Governor and Democratic-controlled senate and house, and their strong efforts to improve living conditions in Pure Michigan, and reverse the trend of population decline.   I’m not reading or hearing about the MDOC staff crisis in Michigan prisons.   An item on the Detroit News editorial page more than intrigued me…it infuriated me. It was written by Timothy Fleury, a correctional officer at the Alger CF located in Munising. He obviously hoped to get someone’s attention....

There’s no simple answer for some questions.   “Just tell me what you guys do over there at HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS.”   When we give our stock reply, helping prisoners one-on-one with their everyday needs and problems, more questions persist.   “When I give money to an agency that feeds hungry people, they can give me exact statistics…how many people they feed, in what countries, their ages, etc. If we’re going to award grants to HFP, we need stats!” Gulp.   Last week I was one of four persons in a panel discussion. I was on the panel because I started this program 22 years ago. The others were there because all had been helped by HFP. I’ll briefly share a story about each of them.   Heather was in another state when she contacted HFP. She was engaged to a prisoner in Michigan, and the two of them hoped to get married. Because of complications involving her residence in another state and his residency in a prison, a contrary county clerk decided she wou...

I was so busy writing about HFP’s August 29 birthday that I never got around to discussing the August 28 Freedom March of 1963. That was the year that 200,000 demonstrators filled the streets of Washington DC, demanding improvements in jobs and freedom.   I have long contended that democracy not only demands orderly elections, but allows for peaceful protest on the streets.   Just a few days ago Governor Whitmer presented her “What’s Next” address. She noted many fine accomplishments in our state, and she outlined many more worthy goals. Notably missing, however, was an in-depth discussion of prisons and incarceration. Why? Because these topics do not impress voters.   The only comment I found in the entire speech was a vague reference to the budget just passed, saying that there was money to “upgrade correctional facilities.” That’s it? That’s all there is to talk about?   Meanwhile, our office continues to receive a barrage of complaints from residents of M...

I’m quietly sitting here on the eve of HFP’s birthday. My wife Marcia, the wind beneath my wings through this project, is gone. Maurice Carter, the kind, gentle human being who insisted prisoners deserved humane treatment, is gone. I’m 86 and still here, but undeniably in my sunset years. And yet, as I reflect on it, HFP flourishes!   I signed all the proper legal documents on August 29, 2001, but that didn’t mean much. The fledgling organization called INNOCENT was now legal, but its impact and its future were uncertain.   Doug Tjapkes, church organ salesman who founded the agency, had to continue working in his day job. Marcia had groceries to buy and kids to feed. At a borrowed desk and a borrowed computer, I put up two web sites explaining our mission, and waited for reaction.   It came in a heartbeat, and it took only minutes to learn that advocating for prisoners was an uphill climb. Friends and family wondered if I was goofy. Early board members nodded kindly...

It was a sad day in 2013 when Michigan’s largest city filed for bankruptcy.   Today, we’re told, it’s a different story in Detroit. A new bridge is being built. New buildings are being erected. Historic buildings are being restored. According to numerous financial experts, a strong comeback is in the works.   Perhaps that is the case downtown. I can tell you this: We’re not seeing it in the criminal justice system!   A dear friend telephoned me from Detroit. I’ve known her for many years…her husband is a client of HFP, and we had a mutual friend named Maurice Carter. She called to say that her best friend’s husband was in prison and had been treated unfairly by the system in Detroit. She wondered if we could help.   Those of you who are aware of the work of Humanity for Prisoners also know that we are not attorneys, and we do not operate an Innocence Project. We cannot help, we can only steer. These two Black women realized that, also. But, as the bald guy sa...

It’s no secret that an action film inspired by the story of Doug Tjapkes helping a wrongly convicted prisoner named Maurice Carter is in the works. I became Maurice’s partner in the late 1990s under some providential circumstances, and that decision changed my life. I fought at his side for nearly a decade, hoping to clear his name and gain his freedom.   The story became a book, then a stage play, and now a movie, and the names of numerous heroes are listed. However, there was a critical player in this story whose name was seldom mentioned. As my Maurice Carter memories get rekindled during the making of this movie, I’m compelled to set the record straight.   The person I’m talking about is Hon. Gary C. Giguere, Jr., Kalamazoo County Chief Judge Circuit/Probate Court. At that time, we knew him as Gary Giguere, a young criminal defense attorney with the prestigious Kalamazoo law firm of Levine and Levine.   The powerful legal forces that we were able to mobilize beh...

On Maurice Carter day, this story is worth repeating. Maurice Carter was not exaggerating when he complained about the lack of justice in his case. An off-duty white police officer was shot and injured in what may have been a hold-up attempt during the Christmas shopping season in Benton Harbor. That was back in the 1970s. Two years later, based on the testimony of a jail-house snitch, Maurice was arrested in his hometown of Gary, Indiana. It was 29 years later before he ever took a breath in free society again!   Talk about “grinding to a halt,” consider these points.   - No one, not even the police officer and his wife, identified Maurice from the police department lineup photos until 2 years later, after his photo accompanied the news of his arrest in the Benton Harbor newspaper.   -The only real witness to the crime, the store clerk, insisted that police arrested the wrong man. The shooter, she said, was “African black,” and Maurice was lighter-skinned. When a...