1857 – The first good-time statute can be traced to 1857, when inmates could receive a two-month reduction of their sentence during each of the first three years and a reduction of up to seventy-five days per year during the third, fourth, and fifth years, all the way up to six months per year during the twentieth and subsequent years.
This system remained substantially intact through 1978.
In 1998, to obtain federal Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth in Sentencing (VOI/TIS) grants which required more imprisonment for serious offenses, the state enacted a harsher “truth in sentencing” law than was required to qualify for the federal funding. The state set the time-served requirement before eligibility for parole consideration to 100% of the minimum sentence (instead of 85%) and applied it to all sentences (instead of just sentences for violence). Subsequently, Michigan received nearly $110 million in VOI/TIS grants for prison 18 The Sentencing Project expansion. The state eliminated community residential programs that had transitioned low-risk individuals to community corrections placements before parole eligibility. It replaced sentencing guidelines established by the judiciary with more restrictive legislative ones that mandated sentence lengths within narrow grid ranges for either (1) presumptive probation or jail, (2) choice of sanction type within the range, or (3) presumptive prison.
In 2019 a group of prisoners began writing the Michigan Prisoner Rehabilitation Credit Act. Much of the language contained within the MPRCA came from previously submitted good-time bills, and from the laws that were in place before Proposal B repealed them.
These prisoners with the help of family members reached out to every state legislator and other activist in the state of Michigan.
Amani Sawari was contacted via this process and in November of 2019 began work on the final language of the ballot.
In January of 2020 the language was submitted to the state of Michigan and approved for printing later that month. Amani & SawariMedia, LLC worked through social media to educate the public and to train canvassers.
In March the COVID-19 Pandemic Hit – the Governor issued Executive Orders to limit private and public gatherings. The movement was forced to cancel previously scheduled events and reconsider how to proceed during the early stages of the pandemic. The momentum for positive change was quickly being stifled.
On May 4, 2020 SawariMedia, LLC filed a lawsuit against the Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Bureau of Elections seeking an injunction from the US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. The suit revolved around the claim that it was unconstitutional for the State to require 340,047 signatures to be obtained for a petition on the ballot, and then issue an EO which made it illegal for people to leave their homes.
The Court agreed, and on June 22 it issued the injunction ordering the State to resolve the conflict. (Read the chronology of detailed filings here: https://www.clearinghouse.net/detail.php?id=17630)
An emergency motion was filed by the State on June 23 requesting a stay on the injunction, and on June 24th the US District Court denied that request finding that the State was unlikely to prevail on appeal.
On July 2 the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision, and stated the burden to correct the issue was on the State. The State then appealed that decision all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
While waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if it would get involved, the original Court began a further analysis of the case. It was during that analysis it was concluded that the Court had been misinformed about the number of signatures previously gathered.
Due to the lawsuit being based on inaccurate information, the case was dropped on July 22, 2020.
A few core members of the MPRCA group decided stay in touch, and to reconvene after taking a few weeks off to rest and ponder the future of the MPRCA.