House budget hits most vulnerable families, those seeking to change their lives
Contact: Chuck Warpehoski chuckw@mi-cemi.org
MICHIGAN – Public safety advocates are speaking out against a budget passed by Republican members of the Michigan State House of Representatives that cuts funds to programs that promote public safety by preventing crime, promoting rehabilitation, and supporting successful reentry after prison. Taken in total, the House budget would decrease public safety, devastate low income families and have a special impact on those incarcerated and formerly incarcerated.
“The Republican budget proposal guts the very programs that keep our communities safe and help people return home with stability and dignity,” said Ken Nixon, Director of Outreach and Community Partnerships at Safe & Just Michigan. “Cutting reentry services, prison healthcare, education, and alternatives to incarceration doesn’t make Michigan safer—it sets us back. Real public safety comes from investing in people, reducing barriers to success, and ensuring basic human needs are met. Both parties still have work to do to fully live up to that vision, but this plan takes us in the exact opposite direction.”
The House budget cuts the Department of Corrections and calls for billions to be slashed from Medicaid and general health services. It does propose a funding increase for what has proven to be a failed project: attempting to lure people into corrections officer jobs in overcrowded prisons.
“The House budget calls for cutting prison staffing at a time when our prisons are already dangerously overcrowded and understaffed,” said Chuck Warpehoski, project director of Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration. “There is a safe way to cut prison costs, increase safety, and address overcrowding: stop Michigan’s over-reliance on excessive prison sentences. Keeping someone incarcerated after they have rehabilitated and served a meaningful prison sentence only wastes taxpayer dollars that could be better spent on crime prevention and victims services. The legislature can start this process by funding the bipartisan sentencing commission.”