MPRI eNews for November/December 2008

Each month, we ask you to give us your comments about MPRI eNews. This month we've made it easier to do so. To send us your comments, criticisms, suggestions, or ideas for news just click here for a two-minute survey. We'll report here on what you tell us.

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As always, we thank you for reading, and happy holidays to you and yours!

Jeff Padden and Paul Elam

Public Policy Associates, Inc.

Michigan Prosecutor Speaks on National Reentry Panel

Saginaw County Prosecutor Mike Thomas, a long-time member of the MPRI Executive Management Team and advocate for the MPRI, addressed a prestigious national gathering in Washington called From Prison to Work: Overcoming Barriers to Reentry. Hosted by the Brookings Institution's Hamilton Project, the session featured former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.). Discussion focused on a proposal to create a national prisoner reentry transitional employment program that would provide a year of community service employment for every returning prisoner.

In his opening remarks to the group, Prosecutor Thomas said, "I'm [an] unabashed strong, enthusiastic supporter of reentry. I think number one it's morally the right thing to do..." He also emphasized the importance of tracking employment outcomes for former prisoners.

For much more information on the session, including a verbatim transcript and the discussion paper, click here.

Michigan Prison Population Declines

While it is still too early to tell what effect the MPRI has on Michigan's prison population, data for 2008 show clearly that prison population is declining. This is true for male and female prisoners and for prisons and camps.

Big factors in the decline appear to be decreases in commitments to prisons by courts (down 540) and returns to prison for parole technical violations (down 481), and an increasing parole rate. Overall, the prison population is down by 1,105 inmates so far for 2008. If these trends hold through December, the prison population will have decreased for two consecutive years for the first time since 2003-2004, and by an unprecedented magnitude of more than 2,500 inmates.

For more detailed information, click here.

ACTION ALERT: Reach out to Your 2009 Legislators

As regular readers of the MPRI eNews know, we've been educating all of the candidates for the Michigan House of Representatives about the MPRI. On November 26, both the victorious and unsuccessful candidates in the November General Election were sent a final letter from Public Policy Associates, Inc. building on the basics about the MPRI that had been provided in the previous three mailings. In addition, the candidates received the brand-new 2008 MPRI brochure. The letter included an offer to the successful candidates to attend a legislative briefing on the MPRI in January. MPRI Community Coordinators and Administrative Agencies have been plugged into this process from the start.

Now is the perfect time to contact your 2009 legislators to tell them what the MPRI is doing in your community. As they prepare for the upcoming legislative session, your perspective will help to shape theirs. With the costs of the Corrections Department now exceeding $2 billion per year and the State budget in crisis, an initiative that can both improve public safety and control costs will be of great interest to them. But your contact will help to focus their attention on the MPRI. Please urge them to attend the upcoming briefing.

For a copy of the candidate letter, click here.

For a copy of the MPRI brochure, click here.
If you don't know what House district you are in, click here.
Once you know your district number, click here for a list of all candidates and their contact information. This includes winners and losers, incumbents and challengers.

2008 MPRI Progress Report Hits the Streets

A landmark report on the progress to date of the MPRI was released in October. Over the next 60 days, the 32-page 2008 MPRI Progress Report will be distributed widely to key audiences across the state including state and local officials, law enforcement leaders, other opinion leaders, and, of course, the MPRI community. Our friends at the JEHT Foundation underwrote the costs of producing the report, so once again we thank them for their generosity and commitment to the success of the MPRI.

To view or download a copy, click here.

For a hard copy, contact your MPRI Community Coordinator. Each of them has already been provided a supply, and they'll be happy to give you one. To find your coordinator, click here.

Sign up for the Campaign to End Homelessness eNews

Many readers of the MPRI eNews are concerned about the housing and homelessness issues. Beginning this month, Michigan's Campaign to End Homelessness will produce a series of monthly eNews bulletins to keep the homelessness community up to speed on the Campaign.

One critical item to be included in the upcoming eNews will be MSHDA's new $5 million Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). To find out whether your agency may be eligible for this funding, you'll want to get your own copy.

To sign up for the Campaign to End Homelessness eNews, click here.

Legislator Touts the Prison Gardens Program

State Senator Jason Allen recently wrote a guest column for the Traverse City Record Eagle in which he said: "It is in our collective best interest to note when community members and state officials come together to do something remarkable." He pointed to Pugsley Gardens program at the Pugsley Correctional Facility as an example of a remarkable result. The initiative provides useful work for prisoners and food for food banks. Partners include the Grand Traverse Community Collaborative, Fresh Food Partnership, Northwest Michigan Human Services, and the Father Fred Foundation.

For the complete column, click here.

New MPRI Local Governance Structure Adopted

After months of research and consultation with MPRI stakeholders across the state, a new local governance structure for the MPRI has been adopted. The goals of the new structure are to increase the consistency of MPRI implementation across the 18 sites, to ensure that decision-making is open and inclusive, and to support public education about the MPRI.

In his transmittal to the 18 Administrative Agencies across the state, Dennis Schrantz, Deputy Director for Planning and Community Development at MDOC said, "Please consider this Issue Brief a set of guiding principles and an indication of the processes that we expect to take shape throughout FY 2009. As we approach FY 2010, much of what is detailed within the Brief will be considered for improvements in our contract language. Until then, this document is to serve as a set of informal - but expected - guidelines."

Leaders of the Administrative Agencies reacted very positively to the new structure. Robert Straits, Chair of the Michigan Works! Directors' Council, said, "We appreciated the opportunity to be a part of this collaborative effort. We were asked for input and we were listened to." Fourteen of the 18 administrative agencies are Michigan Works! Agencies. Jacqueline Jones, Vice President for Public Policy at United Way for Southeastern Michigan, had similar sentiments. "It is essential that the local MPRI Steering Team actually steers the initiative. At United Way, we are committed to genuine community involvement, and the new structure assures that."

For a copy of the governance structure issue brief, click here.

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