This post first appeared on Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration.

(Lansing, Michigan) – August 22, 2024. Today, the Second Look Michigan Coalition released the following statement responding to the severe staffing shortages in Michigan’s prisons:

Today, there are hundreds of people sitting in Michigan’s prisons who pose no threat to society, have served significant time, and in many cases, are unable to physically commit a crime. By offering these individuals a second look, we can make our criminal legal system more humane while also alleviating the staffing shortages throughout the state’s prisons.

When it comes to Michigan’s criminal legal system, the status quo is unsustainable and inhumane. Severe staffing shortages are creating unsafe living situations for incarcerated people and those working in the state’s prisons. The situation is so severe that Michigan’s Corrections Officers Union has called for Governor Gretchen Whitmer to call in the National Guard to alleviate these staffing shortages.

The state currently imprisons 35,000 people, with the state’s sentencing policies resulting in harsh punishments and long prison terms. Michigan has the fifth-highest population of people sentenced to life in prison in the United States, many of whom no longer pose any threat to the community. The state has embarked on this path despite evidence that lengthy prison terms do not have a significant deterrent effect on crime. Instead, they waste taxpayer dollars and divert resources from efforts that actually make our community safer.

As with the entire criminal legal system, Black Americans are overrepresented in the population serving longer sentences. More than half of the prison population in Michigan is Black, and racial disparities are even more heavily skewed among those serving terms over 10 years (70% Black), and the imprisoned population who were young at the time of the offense (65% Black).

As shown by recent research by the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy and the American Friends Service Committee, there is a solution that can alleviate the impact of these staffing shortages, all while making Michigan’s criminal justice system more humane and saving taxpayer dollars. That solution is the Second Look Sentencing Act. 

The Second Look Sentencing Act would allow incarcerated people to petition their judge for a reduction of their sentence after serving a significant portion of their sentence.

The process created by this bill is robust. It includes a review by a judge, who would carefully consider input from the victim, the seriousness of the original offense, the incarcerated person’s history and behavior, and any risks or benefits to society. The Parole Board must then also agree that this person is safe and prepared to reenter society.

We urge the Michigan legislature to pass the Second Look Sentencing Act before the situation in the state’s prisons further deteriorates.

Participating Groups in the Michigan Second Look Coalition Include:

• American Friends Service Committee
• Detroit Justice Center
• Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice
• Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration
• Michigan State Senator Stephanie Chang
• Nation Outside
• NACDL
• New (ERA) Ethical Responsibility and Accountability in Criminal Justice
• Safe & Just Michigan
• State Appellate Defender Office
• The Sentencing Project 
• Voting Access for All Coalition
• Vera Institute of Justice