MI-CURE News (November 2014) covering MDOC officials discussing parole, reentry, and mental health care; updates on programming backlogs and vocational training initiatives; concerns about prison overcrowding and violence; the FCC’s efforts to regulate intrastate prison phone rates; developments in parole board procedures for lifers; a clarification on litigation regarding MDOC dental care; and advocacy efforts for policy changes to improve rehabilitation and reduce recidivism.
MI-CURE News (November 2015) covering MDOC officials’ report on programming improvements and parole readiness; efforts to expand GED completion, vocational training, and reentry employment partnerships; use of lifers as mentors; a statewide survey of incarcerated individuals on programming value, access barriers, and solutions; progress on tablet rollout and Pell Grant pilot application; FCC’s decision to cap prison phone call rates; court rulings on parole eligibility and prison conditions; and advocacy for expanded rehabilitative opportunities and fair parole practices.
MI-CURE News (November 2016) covering legislative updates on parole, commutations, and juvenile justice reform; expansion of parole readiness and elderly-focused programs; concerns over limited prison programming and discriminatory SORA policies; federal rulings on sex offender registry and private prisons; Hepatitis C treatment access in MDOC; prison phone rate litigation; and a new entrepreneurship pilot for returning citizens in Detroit.
MI-CURE News (November 2017) covering calls for second chances for lifers and long-sentenced prisoners; guidance on preparing commutation applications and reentry challenges; discussion questions for candidates on criminal justice issues; court rulings reshaping sex offense laws and registries; proposals to reduce recidivism through licensing reform, scaled-back supervision, and financial support for returning citizens; Medicaid expansion's link to crime reduction; highlights of effective DUI and reentry programs; updates on MDOC's gender dysphoria policy; and the introduction of the federal Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act.
MI-CURE News (November 2018) covering homelessness among the formerly incarcerated and housing access reforms; the overlooked value of lifers and aging prisoners in rehabilitation; reductions in prison phone call costs; the decline of prison farming programs; a national push to reimagine prison with dignity-centered practices; ongoing issues access to legal resources; wrongful convictions and the limits of constitutional protections; persistent racial disparities in the justice system; and statewide updates on parole reform, occupational licensing, juvenile justice, and court-watching efforts.
MI-CURE News (November 2019) covering economic barriers to rehabilitation—high phone costs, medical copays, and low wages; jails repurposed for housing and mental health care; innovative jail education programs; expanded financial aid for incarcerated Michiganders; reforms on solitary confinement, pregnant prisoners, and juvenile justice; gaps in mental health and addiction treatment; push for forensic science oversight; critiques of crime-focused media coverage; efforts to restore voting rights; and growing momentum to ban private prisons and reduce incarceration.
MI-CURE News (November 2020) covering barriers to family support in prison; statewide reforms in indigent defense; DNA evidence misconduct ; Black prosecutors call for justice transformation; widespread law enforcement misconduct in exoneration cases; major expungement and SNAP access reforms; proposed limits on solitary confinement; COVID-driven early releases; jail education programs; prison-based cat sanctuary; and Delaware’s elimination of solitary confinement.
MI-CURE News (November 2021) covering Second Look sentencing and Good Time rally at the Capitol; growing concerns over restrictive prison mail policies and surveillance; barriers to medication-assisted opioid treatment in prisons; food reform; rising life sentences for women and racial disparities in incarceration; wrongful conviction reforms and jailhouse witness regulation; expansion of prison education programs nationwide; updates on Michigan’s sex offender registry law and tether advocacy; and policy changes on maternal health care, juror pay, prison healthcare contracts, electronic monitoring, and juvenile clemency.
MI-CURE News (November 2022) covering juvenile lifer resentencing expansions; new prison programs in education, therapy, and rehabilitation; prison phone cost reductions and free call legislation; advocacy for visitation and solitary confinement reform; proposed federal prison oversight legislation; sex offender registry challenges; exploitative prison economies; ABA support for decarceration reforms.
MI-CURE News (November 2023) covering the push for more humane, trauma-informed corrections through staff wellness, facility design, and holistic safety reforms; updates on sex offender registry litigation, tracking police misconduct, and public defense workloads; critiques of risk assessment tools and forensic science practices; Michigan legislation on housing, education access, juvenile justice, and medical parole; and national developments including prison phone cost elimination, commissary markup limits, parole reforms, prosecutorial accountability, and growing support to end juvenile life without parole.
MI-CURE News (November 2024) covering innovative programming; advocacy for quality phone services in carceral settings; major court rulings on Michigan’s sex offender registry; national efforts to recognize and address brain injuries in justice-involved populations; failures in ending solitary confinement; reflections on mass incarceration’s roots and alternatives; widespread use and consequences of police deception in interrogations; collapsing private prison healthcare industry; growing concern over junk science in wrongful convictions; and shorts on new prison journalism initiatives, child-friendly visitation reforms in Vermont, and Maryland’s cancellation of parole supervision debts.
