The challenges faced by Michigan prisoners are numerous. Beginning with coming to terms with why they committed their crimes and how to refute their thoughts and beliefs that led them to offend or re-offend.
The biggest hurdle that prisoners face is the Michigan Department of Corrections itself. That is where I would like to focus this conversation.
Throughout my many years of incarceration, I have had to face obstacles that were placed in my path by the MDOC. That was okay because they were preparing me for the obstacles I will face when released from prison. Through hard work and dedication to change, I have spent many years working towards the person I would like to become.
“It is not our past that determines the person we are. It is the choices that we make from this point forward that will determine who we want to be.” -by Norman Munn
This is the motto in which I try and live my life by. I am responsible to repair the community I ripped apart by my horrific decision to victimize my victims. But there is a blockade placed into most our paths by the MDOC. Whether this is by incompetence or unwittingly is yet to be determined.
The Michigan Department of Corrections determines the core programming needed for each prisoner. These recommendations are then placed into the prisoner’s file. Sometime during the prisoner’s incarceration they will have to complete these core program recommendations. These programs can be waived by a psychological evaluation or by other means, but that is a different challenge in itself. But it is still possible, and probable, for these to be reinstated by the Parole Board for one reason or another.
Here at Central Michigan Correctional Facility all core programming was shut down due to outbreak status for COVID-19. It resumed on 03/02/21 but with a catch. Only 12 ‘lucky few” inmates were able to resume group with hundreds of inmates on the waiting list to take their core programming. Beyond these 12 individuals are multiple others who were already enrolled in group pre-shutdown that simply must now, once again, “wait their turn.” Many of us have had more time added to our earliest release date because we have not yet completed the programming deemed necessary by the MDOC to “reduce the prisoner’s risk to society.” Imagine if this was you. Having been incarcerated for a period of years away from your family and friends with no in person contact at the moment. You have done everything you were asked to do to ensure that the risk you once posed to the community has been negated. But yet everything you have done amounts to nothing as you still need to complete the department ordered programming before having a fighting chance to go home. Now, because of the COVID-19 outbreak, you are stuck at a facility that says core programming is to resume, but to your horror the program you need is not staffed properly (or so they say) and your meeting with the Parole Board is only getting closer.
What do I mean not staffed properly? Well, we have had 1 psychologist pass away from COVID-19 (RIP Mrs. Herington). Another psychologist quit, with still another one missing in action. The one remaining is a social worker lacking the proper credentials to run the group by herself.
So as it stands right now we have here at Central Michigan Correctional Facility 12 people into their core programming with a waiting list that is so far backlogged it is not even funny. Here is the kicker in all this. The Michigan Parole Board is going to hold the inmate responsible for not having group completed. Though this is not his fault, he is going to do the added time anyways in the form of a continuance (flop). Until this recommendation is met it is possible, and probable, that a prisoner will have numerous years added to their earliest release date. In Michigan the average inmate will do130% of their sentence. This is outrageous to multiple people involved including the Michigan taxpayer. Honestly, what purpose does this serve? Not to mention the continuous overcrowding of prisons as a pandemic runs wild through these facilities. That is another story by itself, I digress.
We can make plans for our future, but what it boils down to is simply a wish list that may or may not happen. This is ultimately because we are responsible for getting the core programming done and without it we are passed over for the chance of parole. This is demoralizing to us. Punishing us for failing to get programming done, even though it is beyond our control. We cannot simply march into their office and demand that we be placed into group. By doing that it will definitely get us put into the hole. For those of you that are having a hard time understanding and relating to what I am talking about, let me put it this way. You witness your neighbor’s house getting burglarized and you call the cops. This is the expected response to the situation. When the cops show up, they arrest you because you failed to stop the break in and robbery. Sounds absurd right? That is how it is in the MDOC. We are being punished for either their incompetence, negligence, or dereliction of their job.
As a taxpayer, I would begin to question the MDOC hiring practices.
Why have many of the psychologists that have been hired quit, telling us that “this program is being abused?”
That’s not my words, but theirs. Why in the past 6 months have 3 psychologists at this facility quit their job or transferred to another facility? Again we are being told this core program is being ran as a punishment rather than a rehabilitation tactic.
The last analogy I will use is this. You buy a dog and put it in a kennel in the house. You decide to beat the dog for whatever reason you may have. Then one day, that dog bites you. Now you become mad because the dog bit you. You tell everyone that will listen that the dog is mean and a “danger to society”. All the while you fail to disclose everything you have done to that animal leading up to his action. We understand that we are not entitled to a parole. If they give us more time on our earliest release date or choose to not release us because of something we did that is fine for we did something to deserve that outcome. But to hold us responsible for someone else’s failure and mistakes is a big miscarriage of justice in my eyes.
In this moment in time we cry for and demand accountability for almost everything petty. For the big ticket items what will history say? We turned a blind eye? Because they are criminals they got what they deserved? Well maybe that might be true.
But let’s take a stroll through the past. What is it that you may have done that you did not get caught for that could have you placed behind bars?
Perhaps drinking and driving? Maybe a fist fight? Maybe you could have hit someone too hard or maybe burst a blood vessel in the brain. Maybe a physical altercation occurred because you were impaired? Some of these examples may be extreme or may not pertain to you. Bottom line is there are a multitude of reasons that individuals, good meaning people, end up in jail or prison based on a poor decision.
So let us begin this era by loving our neighbors and helping
them when we can.
We don’t know when someone released from prison will be our neighbor. So let’s help them plan for the future for real and not just simply a “wish list”. Let’s allow those that have earned the right to return to society the opportunity to do so without further hindrance. When they are released allow them the opportunity to show you the obstacles they have endured and the changes they have made and assist them in becoming valued and productive members of the community. Accept them for who they have become and not for who they once were. Stop holding them accountable for either incompetence on the part of MDOC or the failure of a truly flawed system. Make the right choice and be on the right side of history and let’s heal our communities by ushering in a new era. Love your neighbor because you never know who that might be or what they went through to get there!
I really hope that you enjoyed this little piece and more importantly I hope it opens the eyes of the public and manifests change!