On June 18, 2024, Justin Counts, former Safe & Just Michigan development fellow, provided written testimony to the House Criminal Justice Committee in support of SB 599. Parole for medically frail people allows MDOC to (1) focus on its core functions (instead of complex health care needs), (2) transition medically frail people into more appropriate [...]
There are a variety of health-related costs that incarcerated Michiganders are subjected to. Co-pays for medical, dental, and optometrical visits are just one type of cost. Health care co-pays in prison have two purposes: to decrease the cost of health care and to disincentivize the overuse of healthcare services. In actuality, co-pays are exploitive, counterproductive, [...]
Ronnie Waters, Safe & Just Michigan's community engagement specialist, provided testimony of Safe & Just Michigan in support of Senate Bills 119-123 at the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on April 20, 2023. Download>> Ronnie Waters Written Testimony Senate Bill 119_123
For those who don’t have money, they are stuck in jail, trying to fight their case and hold their lives together with a crazy glue made out of incapacitation, restricted access to a telephone, and the wreckage of whatever was left behind. - Joshua Hoe Getting arrested and going to jail turns your entire [...]
This blog is the first in a series of three comparing the results of the Wayne County Jail report and the findings of the Joint Task Force. This blog focuses on what offenses people booked into jail for. In May 2020, the Vera Institute of Justice released a report on the practices of the Wayne [...]
To learn more about Automatic Expungement also referred to as ‘Clean Slate’ legislation, read Safe & Just Michigan’s one-page fact sheet (updated June 3, 2020). Download>> Clean Slate Legislation Fact Sheet Updated June 3, 2020
Legislation that would allow more people to set-aside qualifying crimes from their records and allow some people to see it happen automatically after 10 years was reported by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The bills (HB 4980, HB 4981, HB 4982, HB 4983, HB 4984, HB 4985 and HB 5120) mostly moved on 12-1 votes with Rep. Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain) voting no. [...]
Support the Clean Slate campaign and share this image on your social media! Download>> Clean Slate introduced shareable
Safe & Just Michigan is proud to announce that DeAnna R. Hoskins, the president and CEO of JustLeadershipUSA, will be our featured speaker at this year’s Annual Dinner Meeting. The event will take place on Thursday, Oct. 10, starting at 5:30 p.m, hosted at the Radisson Hotel Lansing at the Capitol. Under DeAnna’s guidance, JustLeadershipUSA [...]
On March 5, 2019 Executive Director John S. Cooper submitted written testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in support of House Bill (HB) 4129 - 30 & 4132. Safe & Just Michigan has long supported creating a special parole for medically frail incarcerated people. HB 4129 ‐ 30 & 4132 propose an important first step [...]