Our office has begun the long-overdue process of looking into the grievance procedure used within the MDOC's prisons.  We are trying to get a better understanding of what prisoners think of the process, what they use it for, and ultimately, how it could be improved. We are especially interested in how this process fails for those who are functionally illiterate, those who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness, and any others who face additional hurdles to successfully completing this already complex process.

If you communicate with someone who is incarcerated, please print off the grievance questionnaire (downloadable by clicking on: GRIEVANCE QUESTIONNAIRE) and mail the form in to your loved one. If you can send a couple of copies in and have your loved one help somebody else (who otherwise might be incapable of filling out the form) complete the form that would be even better.

Your loved one should fill it out (or help another person fill it out) and send it back to AFSC at 1414 Hill Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

We are interested in hearing their stories and ideas regarding this issue. We want to know what makes them grieve an issue. We want to know why they don't grieve an issue. We want to know what issues they grieve, and we want to know if they have ever been retaliated against for filing a grievance. If they have actual grievances from the past that they can send us as examples, that would be very helpful.

If you have any questions about the grievance procedure or this study that we're beginning, please do not hesitate to contact Pete at 734.761.8283, ext. 2, or by email at pmartel@afsc.org. If you cannot download the questionnaire or cannot afford to print off so many pages and mail them in, please let Pete know, and AFSC will make sure a copy gets in to your loved one.

Some resources to learn more about the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) and the Michigan DOC's grievance process:

• In 2009 Human Rights Watch released a thorough and interesting report on the Prison Litigation Reform Act entitled No Equal Justice The report is downloadable in its entirety.  No Equal Justice lays out the problems presented by the PLRA and offers up recommendations such as the following, "removing the requirement that courts dismiss lawsuits in which prisoners have not exhausted the prison or jail grievance system, and instead substituting a provision allowing courts to stay such lawsuits temporarily to allow prisoners to take their complaints through the grievance system (amend 42 U.S.C. sec. 1997e(a))."

• The MDOC's grievance policy direction is 03.02.130 Prisoner Parolee Grievances   

•  A memo from AFSC with an explanation of the grievance process and how to navigate it--AFSC Grievance Memo.

As you know, the MDOC has entered into a new telephone contract that will hike the per minute phone rates by 53% to 80%, depending upon the call.

The largest factor contributing to the increase is the "Optional Special Equipment Fund Addition."

Those "additions" are outlined in the table below:

The base rate per minute for all calls is very low, as outlined in the table below:   

A small charge of $0.0075 per minute is added to each call for a "key word search addition."

Based upon anticipated call volumes, the special equipment surcharge is expected to raise $7-10 million per year.

This morning, I learned from the MDOC that the special equipment to be purchased and installed will detect contraband cell phones in the system.  Most of this is a one-time expenditure to research, purchase, and install detection equipment in every facility.  Once the equipment is installed, there would likely be some maintenance costs, but those should be relatively small.

I believe we need to be diligent in monitoring the progress of the special equipment project, and we need to call on our legislators to assist us.  Once there is enough money in the fund to purchase and install the equipment, the per-minute charge should be drastically reduced, if not eliminated.

The following is a brief history of the issue.  It may be helpful to remember that, given term limits, there are many current legislators without an understanding of this issue.

Beginning in 1999, many people throughout the state began calling upon the Michigan Department of Corrections, the Public Service Commission, and the Legislature to reduce the high cost of phone calls initiated in the state's prisons.  Those high rates made it impossible for many families to continue communicating regularly.  Children were unable to talk with parents.  Many incarcerated persons lost the social support system that would have eased their transition to the free world. 

The efforts to reduce the phone charges continued tirelessly until the legislature inserted the following language into the 2007-2008 MDOC budget bill:

"Any contract for prisoner telephone services entered into after the effective date of this act shall include a condition that fee schedules for prisoner telephone calls, including rates and any surcharges other than those necessary to meet special equipment costs, be the same as fee schedules for calls placed from outside of correctional facilities."

Beginning in August of 2008, incarcerated persons and their loved ones experienced rate relief for the first time in many years.  Rates for collect calls ranged from $0.12 to $0.15 per minute.  Debit calls cost $0.10 to $0.12 per minute. 

In June 2011, the MDOC began implementing a new phone contract that significantly reversed the progress made in 2008.  While base per minute rates are very reasonable (less that $0.04 per minute, regardless of the call type), the MDOC is now receiving between $0.13 and $0.18 per minute for a special equipment fund addition.

We have been told that the special equipment fund will pay for equipment designed to prevent the use of contraband cell phones in the state's prisons - a problem that prison systems throughout the country have experienced.  We have no way to know how big a problem this is, but recognize that it is a problem for the system.

Therefore, we reluctantly agree that something must be done.  As far as we know, the equipment being contemplated is the best means of controlling this situation.  Having conceded that, however, we believe that it is critical that the charges for "Special Equipment Fund Addition" be eliminated as soon as the equipment has been purchased and installed in all of the state's prisons. 

All State Senators and State Representatives have constituents who are either incarcerated or who have a loved one who is incarcerated.  It is appropriate to ask that each do his or her part to ensure that the prison phone rates are reduced to a reasonable rate as soon as those special equipment funds are no longer needed.

High Court: California Prison Overcrowding Unconstitutional.

AFSC's statement on the US Supreme Court's recent decision

regarding overcrowding in CA's prisons: 

For decades, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has worked to stop the use of mass incarceration. Thus, AFSC welcomes the landmark decision of Monday, May 23, 2011, by the US Supreme Court that overcrowding in California's prisons results in "cruel and unusual punishment," a violation of the US Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

Criminal Justice Related News, Articles and Items of Interest

The summer 2011 edition of YES Magazine--Beyond Prisons--is totally devoted to examining the problem of prison in the United States and capturing efforts that are being made to base the way we deal with harms in our communities in compassionate programs that work rather than the overuse of prison.   

On May 18, the Campaign for Justice, ACLU, and ACLU of Michigan released Faces of Failing Public Defense Systems: Portraits of Michigan's Constitutional Crisis, a report documenting Michigan's failure to ensure that public defense attorneys have the tools they need to provide constitutionally adequate legal representation and the devastating impact of this failure on the lives of 13 public defense clients.  You can download the report on the Campaign for Justice's website.

Articles (in PDF format) on current issues regarding Michigan's prisons:

Detroit Free Press editorial on Michigan Prisoner Re-entry Initiative

Effective prisoner re-entry program need state's robust support 

Detroit Free Press editorial on prison budget cuts:

Proposed prison cuts will cost in long run

MDOC Policy Directive Changes and Other MDOC-Issued Information

Where: 1st Baptist Church of Ann Arbor, Memorial Lounge, 517 E. Washington.

When: Wednesday, June 15 at 7:00 PM

Michigan spends more on prisons than on higher education, and the Michigan Legislature is cutting the education budget. Meanwhile, the Legislature is cutting safety net services that help prevent crime, and the Department of Corrections continues to use abusive practices that create trauma while failing to increase safety. How can we change priorities from vengeance to healing, from incarceration to education, and from callousness to compassion?

Panelists will include :

Rep. Jeff Irwin, 53rd District of Michigan

Natalie Holbrook, Executive Director of the Michigan Criminal Justice Program of the AFSC

Ian Robinson, Lecturer of labor studies at UM, elected officer American Federation of Teachers local #6244