Fall 2019 the movement to repeal TIS laws was reinvigorated by congressional failure to get another criminal justice reform across the finish line. In 2018, I received a prison phone call out of Gus Harrison that a bipartisian HB 5666 was introduced in the House of Representatives in order to revive an earned time system […]
Two methods for replacing outdated laws in Michigan are being employed in order to address massive overcrowding in the state prisons. For the past decade the legislature has been heavily resistant to passing criminal justice reforms, like HB 5666, claiming it’s “too controversial” to touch. The majority of Michigan law makers are seemingly more comfortable […]
On Wednesday, October 10th, at 11:00a EST dozens of community members, including family of incarcerated people, their allies, activists and elected officials came together to advocate for critical reforms that Michigan’s Department of Corrections is in desperate need of. Attendees were asked to display an image of their incarcerated loved one on either a T-shirt, […]
While plenty of coverage has been given to democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, there’s another democratic candidate that Michigan prisoners have endorsed as the one to vote for, “Have all of your Michigan contacts vote for Shri Thanedar for governor on August 7th. His campaign centers around prison reform. He’s the only one I’ve heard say […]
Every third Friday of the month Representative Klint Kesto holds public office hours at Biggby Coffee. Rep. Kesto is chairman over the Law and Justice Committee and oversees the progress of HB 5666 which would allow thousands of incarcerated individuals to reduce their sentences by up to 30% and even 40%. The bill can only […]
Snyder Should Be Granting Way More Commutations As we continue to push for the passing of the Good Time Bill (HB 5666) in Michigan it’s important to critically think about the other resources that exist to help accomplish our goal to de-icarcerate the state. Michigan is a state where the average prisoner serves a longer sentence […]
Prison Labor is of a form of slavery as Bonded Labor and you cannot deny that fact just because the individual is convicted of a crime. Over the past decade many organizations have come to recognize prison labor as a form of human trafficking and modern-slavery. Recently we’ve seen a lot of public interest on […]
A Daily Expense to Maintain Relationships Every day I expect to get at least one phone call from GTL. Global Tel Link provides telecommunication service to more than half of the nation’s inmates from prisons, jails and detention centers in 33 state department of corrections. I don’t drink coffee every morning or eat out much […]