Testimony prepared for House Judiciary
Committee on HBs 4518, 4594-96; June 23, 2010
Supports amendment to HB 4594 to
include uniform criteria a judge must consider in deciding
whether to impose non-parolable life sentence on teenager.
Opposes HB 4596 on parole consideration for those sentenced to life
without parole because of overly limited circumstances.
CAPPS
addresses 2011 MDOC budget
Testimony before
House Subcommittee on Corrections
Appropriations,
May 18, 2010
SB 872
Testimony prepared for the Senate Judiciary
Committee Hearing on SB 827,
March 2, 2010
"SB 872 actually eliminates the 'substantial and
compelling reasons' standard for departing from the parole
guidelines and expressly permits the sheer fact that someone was
convicted of an offense that carries life or any term as a reason
for denying parole."
Testimony Regarding Sentence Credits House
Judiciary Committee, Feb. 24, 2010
"Our unique version of truth in
sentencing has put Michigan far out of sync with virtually every
other state and the federal system. Not only do most give some
amount of credit for good conduct, typically called 'good time',
many give an additional amount of credit, typically called 'earned
credit', for participation in such activities as educational or
treatment programs."
Testimony prepared for House Judiciary
Subcommittee on Corrections Reform, Feb. 23, 2010
"Whether it is restoring some
amount of sentencing credit, releasing more people who are past
their ERD, adopting a presumption of parole at the minimum for all
offense groups or narrowing some sentencing guideline ranges, the
evidence is there to support reforms that will restore our prison
system to a size that is more appropriate for our population and our
resources."
Testimony prepared for Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee on Corrections, Feb. 23, 2010
"I would like to begin by saying how encouraged we are by the
decline in the prisoner population . . . I also have to say we share
Sen. Cropsey's concern about the relatively small decline in
spending this population decrease has brought . . . CAPPS' concern
has always been with not just reducing the number of prisoners but
with increasing the resources available for other important
services."
Previous years
Testimony
regarding HB 4509 and 4510 on speeding up the commutation process
for seriously or terminally ill prisoners, March 25, 2009
All sex offenders are excluded
from the proposed legislation. "I believe this exclusion rests
on several false premises. One is that all sex offenders fit
some stereotype of a compulsive pedophile who abducts children from
schoolyards. Another is that sex offenders can never be
punished enough. The third is that all sex offenders are a
perpetual danger to the community and should be incarcerated as long
as possible.
Testimony
give by CAPPS Executive Director Barbara Levine on the proposed 2009
fiscal year budget before House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Corrections, April 15, 2008.
"We
need to pull back from . . . policies that have fueled
prison growth, without any proven impact on public
safety, and return . . . to practices considered normal
during the 1990s."
CAPPS executive director
at:
Joint
hearing before House
Judiciary Committee and House
Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections,
March 19, 2007
"We need structural changes that will
significantly reduce the prisoner population in an
ongoing, consistent way. "
Testimony of Citizens Alliance on Prisons and
Public Spending
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections,
February 20, 2007
The CAPPS
Agenda
CAPPS announces
Ten-Point Plan to Reduce Corrections
Spending in 2010.
(see
here) .
Comprehensive strategy would:
● reserve prison beds for dangerous
offenders
●
promote successful
re-entry
●
increase parole rates
for those who have served minimum sentences
●
save taxpayers
hundreds of millions of dollars
Conservative
recommendations rely on common corrections
practices elsewhere. |
CAPPS issues new recommendations --Improving
and Enforcing Parole Guidelines
