October 14, 2022
Breaking News: President Biden's early federal prison releases should be the start of major reform
Topic: Reform needed to reduce mass imprisonment, START LOCAL
Meeting Invites: 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at YDC Youth Development Corp, 126 South Weadock, to prepare for 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, County Board of Commissioners, courthouse second floor. Please participate in this action to promote social justice.
From Mike Thompson, retired newspaper reporter, (989) 401-3813,
[email protected], in cooperation with YDC, Youth Development Corp.
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Hello. To begin, am not calling for a new group to form. This effort is sparked by President Biden's call to forgive 6,500 federal felons. My thoughts when he spoke first turned challenging ALL forms of mass incarceration, not so much ma*****na. Friends also reacted first on mass incarceration, too many people in jail who do not need to be in jail. The President is opening a window for us to get started locally.
Would not it make sense to begin at the beginning, by exploring the inmate list at our own county jail, and see which types of offenses maybe could be prosecuted or punished without putting the suspect behind bars? That's my proposed action item and the reason for calling this meeting, to approach our County Board and ask them to join us in reviewing the bookings. We would be looking at groups of reasons for being jailed, not individual cases. Nothing is simple, but using bookings as the first step to reducing prison counts should be do-able.
Imagine you are taking part in Saturday's meeting while we discuss the goals of asking the County Board to review booking counts with us. If you are like me, your mind will be saying, we have to do more than Mike's idea. There is a bigger picture. Therefore, I am only going to take 10 minutes on my precious booking sheets, and the rest of the time will be an open floor. Fair enough?
In my responses so far, one person has said to look at bail. Another said look beyond bookings and explore expungements. A third called for more emphasis on racial disparities in the criminal injustice system. Saturday's meet will offer an opportunity to form working groups on any of the three, along with other related concerns. Eric Eggleston, YDC director and our gracious host, will emphasize that success is not simply releasing folks from mass imprisonment, but giving them pathways for re-entering.
So, the agenda will be:
1) Prayer and optional self-introductions. EmojiMine could be, "I am Michael Thompson, no relation to the Michael Thompson in Flint who has been in headlines for being wrongly mass incarcerated, but we are working to address the same issue."
2) How to approach the County Board on Oct. 18, seeking for our elected governing body to see if we may mutually explore booking sheets at the new jail with the goal of not imprisoning anyone who does not need to be imprisoned and would be no violent risk to the community.
3) All the other concerns (bigger picture) that come to mind as we fine-tune our presentation to the County Board.
It will be a productive, to-the-point gathering, and all will depart knowing what's in store next and what roles they may choose to get involved.