Report urges eliminating legal fees

Last month, we told you about a new report on the toll legal fines and court fees take place on justice-involved families in Michigan — and the ways we can reduce those burdens. Now, the report is available for you to read and share. You can read and share the report “Debtors in Prison: How fines & fees capture justice-impacted Michigan families in debt” online here. 

The report recommends that the following fees be reduced or eliminated:

• Medical co-pays;
• Financial services;
• Communications costs; 
• Commissary; and
• Pay-to-stay costs.

For each of these fees, money is taken from incarcerated individuals and their supporters— not to serve justice, but to enrich mostly private companies.

The report also offers recommendations to alleviate the burden, such as the passage of Senate Bill 318 or a similar plan to end medical copays, and the elimination of all fees associated with communicating with the outside world. The latter move would not only reduce the financial impact of having a loved one in prison but would also help foster close ties between people who are incarcerated and their friends and families outside — something known to improve success in reentry.

On August 25, the day we released the report, we also hosted a livestream discussion on the topic. Report co- author Cassie Larrieux served as moderator, with AFSC-Michigan Criminal Justice Program Director Natalie Holbrook-Combs and Humanity for Prisoners Executive Director Mark Hartman joining as panelists. You can watch the video online here.

Over the coming month, we will be sharing information and quotes from the report, along with short videos on the topic of fines and fees, on our social media accounts on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram. Please keep an eye out for these posts and share them with people in your networks.

Help amplify Inside Voices

Inside Voices is a written by justice-involved people currently incarcerated in Michigan prisons that is published in our hardcopy newsletter. While space in the printed newsletter is limited, we are able to post more of them online for everyone to read. If you would like to encourage someone who is incarcerated to submit a letter, please tell them they can send a letter of 300 words or less on criminal justice reform, pending legislation, re-entry or related topics to Inside Voices, c/o Safe & Just Michigan, 119 Pere Marquette Drive, Suite 2A, Lansing, MI 48912. To learn more, visit us at www.safeandjustmi.org. If you would like to join our efforts, email us at info@safeandjustmi.org or sign up for our newsletter at bit.ly/sjmsignup.

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