Second Look: One path forward (Part 2 of 3)

From the October 2024 Criminal Defense Newsletter
Introduction

Michigan’s prison system is facing a crisis rooted in excessively long sentences, outdated policies, and significant staffing shortages. Over the years, Michigan has been one of the leaders in imposing long-term incarceration, with 32% of the prison population having served over 10 years, compared to a national average of 17%. Even more concerning, 14% of the people in Michigan’s prisons will never leave prison, serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.1 This rigid approach has resulted in overcrowded and understaffed prisons, significant financial burdens on the state, and worsened conditions for everyone in the prisons—whether they are incarcerated there or working there. There are 40,000 people, staff and incarcerated people alike, impacted by these draconian sentencing habits and laws in Michigan.2 

One solution to this problem is Second Look Legislation, a forward-thinking reform that allows for the review of life and other excessively long sentences after a specific period of time, providing a mechanism to reassess whether further incarceration is necessary or justifiable.

Understanding Second Look Legislation

Second Look Legislation is designed to give individuals who are serving life or long sentences the opportunity to have their cases reviewed after serving a designated amount of time. The second look bills were introduced with 10-year thresholds but after the spring hearing in the house it looks like this will be increased to 20 years. It is not because people don’t believe 10 years isn’t a long time to serve in prison. Rather, legislation with a 20-year threshold will make it easier for people to vote yes and it will assuage judicial concerns about the first wave of petitions that will hit court dockets. A 10-year threshold would result in nearly 10,000 people becoming instantly eligible. A 20-year threshold would still provide an instant opportunity for more than 4,000 people.3  The adjudication of that many petitions will vary drastically from one county to the next, while also requiring significant additional resources for Wayne County, which will bear the brunt of these petitions due to the number of people serving such long sentences out of Wayne County. 

The goal of Second Look legislation is to evaluate whether continued imprisonment is still necessary based on the person’s behavior, rehabilitative history, culpability in the crime, whether similar crimes are currently being punished to the same degree, and many other factors included in the bill.

Why we need Second Look Legislation

1. Overcrowding and inhumane conditions

Michigan’s prisons are significantly overcrowded, leading to deteriorating conditions for both individuals serving time and staff. Prisons are housing more people than they were designed to, which has led to an increase in idle time, lock-down time, and substance abuse. Understaffing has led to reduced access to vital rehabilitation and educational programs. By allowing sentence reductions for rehabilitated individuals, Second Look could reduce the prison population, alleviating these pressures.

2. Aging prison population

Michigan’s prison population is rapidly aging. This is not because there is a movement of older people being sentenced to prison for committing crime (or being wrongfully convicted of crimes at older ages). Rather, it is the necessary outcome of short-sighted policy decisions--played out over many decades--of basing sentencing policy on the fallacy that long sentences will deter crime. Where tough-on-crime policies really began to pick up speed in the late 1970’s, we are now grappling with the long-term effects of those policies: people sentenced to die in prison for crimes committed in their teens and twenties are now well into advanced ages. As those draconian policies have continued for nearly five decades, we will continue to see an increasingly aging population in prison unless a comprehensive solution such as Second Look is made available. Nearly 11% of those incarcerated are now over the age of 60, a significant rise from just 1% in1990.4 The longer people are locked in prison, the more they require expensive medical care, driving up operational costs for the state. Second Look would help reduce these costs by giving older people a pathway to sentence reductions if they no longer pose a threat to society.

3. Staffing shortages

The Michigan Department of Corrections is currently struggling with severe staffing shortages. Understaffed prisons result in terrible conditions for everyone there, staff burnout, and the inability to properly run educational and therapeutic programs. Second Look legislation would reduce the prison population, making it more manageable for the remaining staff and reducing the overall burden on the system.

4. Promoting justice and rehabilitation

People change over time, and the criminal justice system must recognize the potential for rehabilitation. Second Look legislation provides an avenue for individuals to demonstrate their growth and secure a sentence reduction. This policy aligns with broader movements toward criminal justice reform by ensuring that punishments are fair and proportionate.

5. Addressing racial disparities

Second Look legislation could also help address racial disparities in sentencing. In Michigan, Black people are significantly overrepresented in the prison population, especially among those serving life sentences. Providing a fair, structured process for reviewing sentences could help correct some of the long-standing inequities in the system.5

How Second Look Legislation works

Eligibility: Individuals serving life or long sentences, except those convicted of certain serious crimes (like mass shootings), can apply for sentence review after 10 to 20 years of incarceration (as noted above, the bills were introduced with 10-year thresholds, but seem likely to move up to 20 years). Cases involving crimes such as criminal sexual conduct where the victim was under 13 or human trafficking could be screened out by judges without hearings.

Review process: A judge reviews the individual’s progress, including behavior, rehabilitation efforts, and any changes in law or social views that could influence their sentence.

Outcomes: Judges have the discretion to reduce the sentences of those who no longer pose a threat to society, making them eligible for parole. The individual must then be reviewed by the parole board before release. Once released on parole individuals will be under MDOC supervision for a period of time.

Benefits of Second Look Legislation

1. Reducing incarceration rates

Second Look legislation provides a mechanism to parole individuals who have served significant portions of their sentences and are no longer a threat to society. This reduction in incarceration rates will help to alleviate the overcrowded conditions in Michigan’s prisons, improve living conditions, and reduce the burden on staff.

2. Enhancing public safety

By providing inmates with an opportunity for review based on their rehabilitation efforts, Second Look promotes public safety by ensuring that those who are released have demonstrated a low risk of recidivism. This helps integrate reformed individuals back into society and reduces future crime rates. Further, people who have been released after serving long time have demonstrated again and again that they are wonderful mentors and violence interrupters for younger generations.

3. Cost savings

Michigan’s prison system is expensive, particularly as the aging prison population requires increased medical care. Reducing long sentences through Second Look would result in significant cost savings—estimated at $188.3 million annually6  —by allowing the state to close some correctional facilities and shift funds toward more community-based initiatives.

4. Justice and equity

Second Look legislation helps promote fairness and justice by correcting the draconian policies of the past. Many individuals sentenced decades ago received terms that are no longer in line with current standards of punishment. Allowing a judicial review of these sentences provides a fair opportunity for relief.

Conclusion

Michigan’s criminal legal system is in desperate need of reform. Second Look legislation offers a solution that addresses the problem of excessively long sentences, reduces prison overcrowding, and alleviates staffing shortages, while promoting justice and equity. By allowing sentence reductions for those who have demonstrated rehabilitation, Second Look legislation paves the way for a more balanced and effective correctional system.

Michigan’s path forward must embrace reform that prioritizes both safety and fairness, and Second Look is the critical legislation needed to ensure that the state’s justice system is adaptable, humane, and just.

Endnotes

1 University of Michigan, Ford School of Public Policy & American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program. Second Look Legislation: A Ford School Policy Briefing (2024) <https://afsc.org/sites/default/files/2024-03/second-look-legislation-a-ford-school-policy-briefing_2.pdf> (accessed October 23, 2024).
2 Michigan Department of Corrections, Report to the Legislature: Pursuant to P.A. 119 of 2023, Article II, Section 317, Prison Population Projection Report, March 2024 <https://www.michigan.gov/corrections/-/media/Project/Websites/corrections/Files/Legislative-Reports/2024/Prison-Population-Projection-Report.pdf?rev=af37b600da63458199f351cd159d1c35&hash=F4AE3345C4F7182B24B6F18CB77F23E6> (accessed October 23, 2024); Michigan Department of Corrections, Report to the Legislature: Pursuant to Article 2, P.A. 119 of 2023, Section 217(1) <https://www.michigan.gov/corrections/-/media/Project/Websites/corrections/Files/Legislative-Reports/2024/Full-Time-Equated-Positions---3rd-Quarter.pdf?rev=9dfaf8373cde4b7aa9a25456255ab5eb&hash=7BA422735A4696D88579561A79A44ED8> (accessed October 23, 2024). 
4 American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program. Second Look Update: 20-Year Compromise (2024)
https://afsc.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/second-look-20-year-compromise.pdfy6 American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program, Second Look Update: 20-Year Compromise (2024)
<https://afsc.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/second-look-20-year-compromise.pdf> (accessed October 23, 2024).
5 Id. 
6  Second Look Legislation: A Ford School Policy Briefing, supra note 1. 

Natalie Holbrook-Combs
   Peter J. Martel
American Friends Service Committee

Natalie Holbrook-Combs has worked against the punishment system and for collective accountability and healing for 20 years. Natalie’s work is centered around ending life and long sentences in Michigan. Organizing with people in prison and people who have been to prison, through her paid work with the American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program, has been the most meaningful calling and privilege imaginable. She also organizes with Liberate Don’t Incarcerate (LDI), a Washtenaw County abolitionist organization, committed to dreaming and working into existence a county rooted in healing and transformation, not punishment, vengeance, and cages. Two of the greatest gifts she has experienced in her organizing have been through building with Siwatu-Salama Ra’s Freedom Team and Tashiena Lanay Combs’ Freedom Team.

Pete Martel is a Program Coordinator at AFSC’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program in Ypsilanti, Michigan. In this role he works with volunteers and interns to carry out direct service advocacy work with people incarcerated in Michigan’s prison system. He is leading up individual liberation work for long and life serving people in Michigan’s prisons. He has worked in various capacities in Michigan’s criminal legal system and is currently a graduate student in the University of Michigan’s Sociology Department. His research interests include the legal system, criminal procedure, and punishment. Pete loves music.