On January 12, 2023, the deeply-flawed Michigan Criminal Justice System made me into a single mother with zero warning. At the beginning of this journey, there was a lot I only knew at a high-level; things that marginalized people were all too familiar with.
Going into Year 2, I’ve learned that the #1 thing the Michigan Legal System is good at, is creating “Deadbeat Dads,” slave laborers, and bouts of crippling financial instability for the families left behind.
Rather than allow people opportunities for rehabilitation, chances to succeed in diversion programs, and allowing people to stay in their community and earn a living wage, many Judges and Prosecutors opt solely for incarceration, creating a modern-day slave labor force that benefits only the state’s bottom line.
Michigan’s Slave Labor Force
Slave labor never quite left America. It merely transitioned to prisons.
As described by Ryan Moser,
…the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution technically abolished slavery, the addition of the phrase, “except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” means that hundreds of thousands of Americans are currently enslaved—as punishment for a crime—and it’s expressly constitutional.
The last time we addressed the Thirteenth Amendment was 1864. 161 years later we know so much more about rehabilitative measures and mental health treatment. And better yet? We have the DATA to prove incarceration does not work… except for the people who financially benefit from it.
By stepping into the care and custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections, people who previously contributed to their households become government property. The state can also pillage their retirement or pension, leaving them worse off than when they came in.
In return, these individuals are tasked with making Michigan-peddled goods and many earn less than $3 per day.
These earnings afford the state of Michigan handsome profit margins.
One example of state-sold products, are hospital beds sold for up to $415 depending on the model. This model takes about one week to make.
4-5 incarcerated people can produce 150 mattresses for use in county jails in a single day, sold at $100 each.
Considering the fact that The Department of Labor was outraged finding garment workers making $1.58 per hour, there is no other way to describe it than as government-sanctioned sweatshops.
Incarcerated parents have their hands tied behind their backs and are forced to watch their families struggle, as they cannot support their children or families.
Families Face Financial Instability and Collateral Consequences
Without any meaningful way to contribute, and the array of costs thrown at families such as phone calls, video visits, and commissary items, innocent families are left behind to face severe financial collateral consequences before the sentence is even complete.
Doing the time without ever committing a crime.
In August 2024, it took ONE employer failing to pay me to cause me to miss a mortgage payment, disrupting my family finances and housing stability.
My Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice didn’t matter.
My previous six-figure earning level didn’t matter.
It’s been five months since that happened to me, and I’m still looking for work, still trying to recover. I am just ONE mother with this story as sadly, America’s love for mass incarceration does this to THOUSANDS of women every day.
The Prison Policy Initiative further tells the story of mass incarceration’s impacts on families and children, and how the criminal justice system doesn’t make anything or anyone safer; without intelligent reform, it only causes harm. Read more here.
It is a psychologically, emotionally, and financially abusive system; one where Judges and Prosecutors who willingly oppose diversion programs knowingly destroy lives and families.
People Deserve Better.
Michigan is one of the only states that does not offer productivity credits or good time, due to Attorney General Dana Nessel’s selective commitment to human rights and blatant refusal to adopt reform, even with data clearly depicting its benefits.
Rather than allow people to become productive members of society, slave labor, under the guise of “marketable skills” is more important. The skills taught through MSI are not anywhere as modernized or impactful as the programs being offered by organizations like Resilience Education, The Last Mile, Unlocked Labs, or Persevere.
The strict and outdated focus on manufacturing relies exclusively on manual labor rather than intellectual pursuits.
This mess, however, is largely a secret. Most people don’t know or care until it’s their loved one impacted.
Sadly, with a penchant for mass incarceration and a blatant disregard for mental health, it’s a numbers game; only a matter of time before someone you know ends up behind the barbed wire.
