One of these things are not like the other, one of these things doesn’t belong.
It’s not just a Sesame Street song. Turns out, it’s the embodiment of Michigan’s Rules for probation.
The Prison Policy Initiative’s report on Probation is eye-opening, revealing the pitfalls, traps, and financial burden of probation in the US and Michigan.
Probation as a Trap, Not a Second Chance
Probation is supposed to be a pathway out of incarceration. In practice, it often functions as a tripwire. The Prison Policy Initiative’s research highlights how probation requirements are frequently:
- One-size-fits-all
- Disconnected from actual public safety needs
- Financially punitive
- Designed without regard for employment, caregiving, disability, or poverty
In Michigan alone, approximately 122,000 people are under probation or parole supervision. That’s not a small program; it’s a massive system exerting daily control over people’s lives.
Rules That Create Poverty
Many probation conditions have nothing to do with the underlying offense and everything to do with compliance for compliance’s sake. People are required to:
- Pay supervision fees and fines
- Attend frequent appointments during work hours
- Maintain transportation they may not be able to afford
- Navigate confusing, overlapping rules that change without notice
Missing a meeting, being late to work, failing to pay a fee on time.
These aren’t signs of dangerousness, but they are common reasons people end up violated and pushed deeper into the system.
Probation doesn’t just reflect poverty; it directly produces it.
One Size Fits All, No Matter the Cost
Probation rules rarely account for:
- Low-wage or unstable employment
- Caregiving responsibilities
- Mental health needs
- Substance use disorders
- Housing instability
Instead of tailoring conditions to support success, the system demands conformity, then punishes people when they can’t meet unrealistic expectations.
This is not by any means, accountability. It’s bureaucratic failure dressed up as supervision.
Why This Matters
Probation violations are one of the leading drivers of incarceration; not new crimes, but technical violations. That means the system is repeatedly cycling people back into jail or prison not because they’re unsafe, but because the rules were impossible to follow in the first place.
If probation worked the way the public thinks it does, it would reduce incarceration.
Instead, it proudly expands it.
Read the Report
The Prison Policy Initiative’s report lays this out clearly and with data: check out the article here.
If Michigan is serious about reducing incarceration, improving public safety, and breaking cycles of poverty, probation reform cannot be optional. It has to be central. Because right now, one of these things truly doesn’t belong and it’s a system that claims to help while doing the opposite.
