- Prison reform advocates argue that reducing long sentences could save the state money.
- Michigan spends $48,000 annually per prisoner, totaling over $1.6 billion for physical and mental healthcare.
- Bills on prison reform may be voted on this week, emphasizing both financial and emotional impacts.
- Advocates for survivors warn that reducing sentences could break promises made to victims.
- There is an ongoing debate on balancing justice, public welfare, and state resource management.
For your convenience, the skimmable summary above is generated with the assistance of AI and fact-checked by our team prior to publication. Read the full story as originally reported below.
Criminal Justice and Prison reform advocates have been at the very steps of the capitol more than once.
Advocates of the bills say it can give people a second chance after lengthy prison sentences but that may not be the only reason behind the reform.
"In Michigan, it's costing $48,000 a year to keep someone locked up," Dr. Merry Morash said.
Michigan State University Professor Dr. Merry Morash says that figure can rise due to the number of people entering the 19 state prisons.
"One of the reasons for overcrowding is that people get really long sentences and as a result of that they don't move on and so they may even do quite well in prison, get a GED and take college courses and then their long sentences are keeping them there," Morash said.
According to the 2023 state budget briefing for corrections, a little more than 1.6 billion dollars is used towards physical and mental health care for over 32,000 prisoners.
Something state representative Abraham Aiyash mentioned in testimony for the Second Look legislation.
"Are there ways we can assess what is the greater good and what is for the public welfare and the well-being of our society. Can we find ways to bring people to justice while also being good stewards of state resources?"
Dr. Morash says taking another look at some prison sentences (what can lower costs) can lower the costs for our neighbors.
"So if you can avoid and shorten that time you can see that you can shift some of that money to field services in corrections, parole, or probation and to other areas of the state budget."
But when considering these bills, another group of advocates say it can have negative impacts on others.
"There are promises made to survivors on the day sentencing happens that the defendant won't leave incarceration after a certain amount of time has passed and there is a minimum they must serve," Heath Lowry said.
Heath Lowry is a staff attorney and policy specialist with Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. He takes a look at legislation that could impact survivors in our neighborhoods.
"Productivity credits and second look legislation changes that date and changing our promises made to survivors is not the way the state should go," Lowry said.
He says that while not all survivors may want the same result.
"But in the end, survivors are the ones who didn't choose to be a part of the process. They were forced into it so they should really be respected and treated with dignity throughout the process," Lowry said.
The bills could be up to vote during this week's final legislative session. FOX47 News reached out to Governor Whitmer's team on the topic and I did not receive a response in time.
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