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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.”
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Restorative practices not only can help transform all aspects of the criminal legal system, they already are.
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We’re excited to launch the Quarterly Reentry Table, a new space for connection, collaboration, and action among people and organizations working to support successful reentry in Michigan.
Kickoff Session Details:
- Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
- Time: 12:00 – 1:30 PM ET
- Location: Virtual on Zoom (link will be emailed upon RSVP)
- Audience: Reentry service providers, formerly incarcerated individuals, and advocates
This kickoff session will bring together service providers, directly impacted people, and advocates to:
- Build connections across the reentry field
- Share insights on reentry successes and challenges
- Explore how this quarterly gathering can best serve participants moving forward
Your perspective is essential in shaping this new collaborative space.
RSVP below to join the conversation:
We look forward to connecting with you on October 14.
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At MI-CEMI, we know that robust peer-led and volunteer programming inside Michigan prisons is essential for meaningful rehabilitation and successful community reentry. To continue strengthening and expanding these critical programs, we’re bringing together providers, advocates, and individuals with direct programming experience for our quarterly Prison Programming Providers Table.
Join us virtually on Tuesday, August 5th, from 12:00–1:30 PM ET on Zoom for an interactive discussion about the current landscape of programming inside Michigan’s correctional facilities.
In this session, we’ll introduce our newly developed statewide map of existing programs, highlighting where programming thrives and where gaps remain. Following this overview, participants will break into role-specific small groups—Providers, Advocates, and Program-Experienced individuals—to collectively examine assets, barriers, and opportunities for growth.
As always, we’ll create space to report back as a full group and identify actionable next steps for expanding high-quality programming statewide.
Your insights are essential to this conversation.
Register now
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A package of resentencing legislation—House Bills 4506, 4507, and 4508, introduced by Rep. Sarah Lightner—is moving forward in the Michigan House after a Judiciary Committee vote on June 25. The bills would establish harsh new sentencing minimums in response to recent Michigan Supreme Court rulings that prohibited mandatory life without parole sentences for individuals who were 19 or 20 years old at the time of their offense.
Rather than honoring the Court’s direction for meaningful resentencing, the bills propose:
- Minimum sentences between 35 and 50 years
- Maximum sentences of at least 80 years
- Mandatory consecutive sentences for related offenses
MI-CEMI opposes these bills, which would sharply restrict judicial discretion and entrench extreme sentencing practices that have already been found unconstitutional by the state’s highest court.
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