This is an all-encompassing statement, but for today I’d like to specifically focus on the problems within our criminal justice and carceral systems. Michigan has the country’s worst carceral instincts, systems, guidelines and politics in the nation. I’m hoping to shine a light on the shortcomings within these systems and to point out some areas where we took some very serious wrong turns while stressing to everyone the need for some serious change.

First, let’s lay out the numbers of the financial aspect of running this system in Michigan. Michigan both allocates and spends $2.1 billion annually on the criminal justice sector, the largest percentage of that budget is dedicated to incarcerating people. Almost 40,000 people being housed in prisons throughout the state is hard to focus on, so let’s break it down to the individual level. The estimated (avg) cost to incarcerate one person annually in Michigan is $45,000; that’s $3,700 each month; or about $125 each day. These numbers don’t include additional costs that could occur such as unscheduled maintenance costs at the facility or additional medical attention. It costs more each day to incarcerate a person than an individual working a minimum wage job is able to earn.

The financial burden of incarnation is exacerbated by the sad truth that people incarcerated in Michigan serve 40% longer prison terms than the national average. Michigan’s average prison sentence is 10.3 years, 17 months longer than any other state. These reported statistics don’t include people serving life without parole (LWOP), which was a reported 3,882 incarcerated Michiganders in 2020 (approx. 10 percent of total prison population). 360 of those are juveniles serving LWOP, and one in five of the entire group already served 25+ years incarcerated. A sad category to be leading the country in but Michigan does, having the highest number of people serving a sentence of LWOP.

Using the reported costs of incarceration on these numbers shows us that to incarcerate someone for a 10 year sentence costs about $450,000, and that Michigan spends an additional $71,250 on each incarcerated person when holding them for the extra 17 months Michigan inmates serve over every other state. These are some alarming numbers we’re forcing taxpayers to burden themselves with because we refuse to reform our system. The average taxpayer might begin to think differently about incarceration if they knew how much of their money was going to towards this sector. The worst part of this is that the lawmakers that are supposed to be representing and serving society are allowing obscene amounts of money going towards housing people that have paid for their crime and are no longer a threat to society.

The main reason our incarcerated people spend so much additional time behind bars is because Michigan is one of only six states in the entire country that have no form of incentive based policies like disciplinary credits, good time or productivity credits in place. We used to, but they were first removed in a vote in 1978 and then were completely eradicated in 1998 when truth in sentencing (TIS) guidelines were adopted. TIS requires states to build prisons, maximize bed space and hold violent offenders for 75%, 85% or 100% of their sentence depending on their charge, with the incentive of federal grants for state’s compliance. “The TIS law appealed to society and victims of harm because longer sentences satisfied their desire to feel safe in their communities…However the effects of TIS have caused more harm than anyone had anticipated for multiple reasons, including the direct link to mass incarceration and poverty” (NPEP Insider, 2024). Supporting TIS laws have served politicians, allowing them to appear “tough on crime” and to gain reelection. TIS costs Michigan millions of dollars and has caused more harm than good implementing this failed policy.

Due to TIS being entrenched in our system, incarcerated individuals end up serving about 110% of their sentence on average in Michigan. Statistics compiled from 2012’s reported data shows that three quarters of felony cases sentenced to prison received minimum sentences that were 110 to 500 times higher than the lowest possible sentence in their guidelines, TIS legislation was written in a way that ignored rehabilitation; the law purposely stands in the way of restoring the offender to useful citizenship. “TIS not only puts more people in prison longer, but it also is a roadblock standing in the path of redemption by withholding tools and incentives necessary for a person to rehabilitate and succeed” (NPEP Insider 2024). Incarcerated individuals aren’t incentivized to participate in education or programming by credit earned towards early release. This is one way of removing all hope from the community. These laws have made people incarcerated purely for punitive reasons, not rehabilitative ones.

Keeping all of this information in mind, I now ask you, who are TIS laws really serving? Recently, several Michigan legislatures walked off the floor, without voting, in the middle of a lame duck voting session. Is this the representation we want or that we voted for? Are these the actions of people entrusted to act for the greater good? It sounds a little more self serving to me. I’m reminded of when my kids were four and six years old, throwing temper tantrums about crust on their bread, not of politicians professionally doing their duty. Incarcerated individuals are failed by these lawmakers as well as by their failure to restore them to useful citizenship, the lack of changing policies that create an atmosphere that fosters equitable treatment and by continuing to allow these uninhabitable conditions to thrive.

Some may be saying, who cares if incarcerated individuals like their state representatives? That’s a foolish way of thinking and most don’t know it.

In Michigan, upon release, previously incarcerated people can vote, even while on parole. In fact, if you’ve received or renewed your Michigan Drivers License or State ID then you’re registered to vote. This means you have a say in who controls policies and laws regarding incarceration. With numbers close to 40,000, the incarcerated population being potential voters should matter to our candidates. They should listen to current and formerly incarcerated people to gain perspective on an area they have little to no knowledge of. Lawmakers need feedback from the people they represent.

I’m not telling you all any thing that hasn’t already been extensively researched, compiled and quantified. National public safety experts have recommended the expansion of incentive based policies to shorten sentence lengths and create space for rehabilitation and programming. Instead of considering this, Michigan officials have doubled down on TIS practices. A survey was even conducted on victims of crime by the Bipartisan Alliance for Safety and Justice where it was reported that three out of four surveyed were in favor of incentive based policies for people incarcerated to earn time off of their prison term. Statistics have for a long time proven that education drastically reduces recidivism as well as how longer sentences don’t make people safer or produce better outcomes. Time and time again, however, lawmakers choose to ignore them.

The current system of TIS led prisons in Michigan makes it clear that incarnation is no longer centered on rehabilitation. Now it is a system that deals with the death of people’s spirit and self-worth. It has become a place to warehouse people who have lost all hope and then have nothing to do except to turn to drugs, violence, relationships, becoming trapped in a cycle of chaos. It is easier to fall prey to the environment created inside than to go against the grain and pursue education, which about 5% of incarcerated people end up spending their time focused on. A person incarcerated is a person thrust into a place full of landmines that nobody will warn or protect them from, but would happily throw you on for their own self preservation. Another incarcerated person explains it as, “I’ve often described incarceration as a ‘waste management system’. Society views us as garbage and throws us away, so opportunities to rehabilitate do not exist” (NPEP Insider 2024).

The second someone is assigned a DOC number, the battle begins to remain considered as a human. This battle the marginalized people have fought is often repeated through our history. In an 1852 argument we can see the parallels. “While we are reading, writing, and cyphering, acting as clerks…having among us…poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers…we are called upon to prove that we are men” (Frederick Douglass).

Slaves fought to be seen as humans and we have openly recognized the moral failure our society is forever stained with because of this history, yet we have passed this same struggle for humanity on to another group of people. We were all born of Mother’s, crimson escapes my veins just the same as it will yours when cut; the only difference between us is one choice, one circumstance, one moment in time that resulted in me being assigned a prison number and not you.

We’re supposed to be living in an era of progressive thinking, awareness, change and reform; why then aren’t there any changes being implemented? I’m an incarcerated person and I invite prosecutors, lawmakers, officials, and anybody else interested to come and stay where I am housed for a week, even just for 72 hours. I’d bet just about anything that there would be some serious changes immediately following that stay. Soon people in power would realize that sending people to prison isn’t helping anything.

This oppressive environment doesn’t just damage those that are housed inside the prisons, it also has a negative impact on the employees within the DOC. There is a national shortage of correction officers, and Michigan is dealing with this as well with over 900 open positions throughout the state. This is a job that is actually one of the highest paying options for those without a degree, but a good wage isn’t enough incentive to get good employees. They don’t want to work in a space that negatively impacts their mental and physical health, can subject them to violence and, due to the staff shortage, requires mandatory overtime in excess. As an incarcerated person myself I can vouch to the fact that many officers spend almost as much time here as inmates do, working 16 hour shifts has become normalized over the past 5 years.

There needs to be a shift to change the way people view incarceration. New systems can be put in place to save taxpayers money, reduce incarceration numbers and reallocate those funds towards better public schools and social programs. With more support focused on people when they’re younger, we can stop the school to prison pipeline, soon realizing we’ve managed to lessen the strains on the system.

To do any of this however, Michigan needs more officials willing to embrace their constitutional responsibility to rehabilitate rather than just incarcerate people. This doesn’t make people ‘soft on crime’, it actually makes them aligned with the true mission of our corrections system. This would help to restore balance between public safety and rehabilitation and ensure a fair and just system for many more. Society also needs to educate themselves on what these reform policies would mean, who they would impact and how.

I implore everybody to see incarcerated people as just that, people. We are all still humans. Reflect on the information I laid out for you and use it to empower you into becoming a person who impacts positive change. Help to do away with laws and policies that do more harm than good.

*Amber Martens is incarcerated at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Thank you! for reading this post. Please share it with others. Also, take a look at the recently updated Directory to find even more great stories and essays. Christopher

 

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