Revise laws to lower prison costs, keep everyone safer

A bipartisan team of legislators has been working with the Council of State Governments, the Pew Center on the States, Detroit Renaissance and the Detroit Regional Chamber as well as prosecutors, law enforcement leaders and faith groups to adopt programs that have proven effective at keeping the public safe while saving tax dollars. The new legislation promises to make Michigan safer by investing the dollars saved from corrections spending into crime prevention. 

Cropsey has introduced SB 827, which will reform our parole system to:

• Reserve prison space for offenders who truly pose a threat to society.
• Base decisions for parole on an offender’s risk to the public.
• Require offenders applying for parole to complete programs proven to increase their chances of succeeding in the community.
• Supervise all released offenders in their communities for at least nine months.
• Ensure that all prisoners serve at least 100% of the minimum sentence imposed by their judge.

Kandrevas has introduced HB 4977, which will:

• Form local community corrections boards so that local factors and needs can be taken into account in placing offenders in community programs.
• Use proven tools to assess the risk of offenders assigned to community corrections.
• Allow only offenders who do not pose a likely threat to public safety in these programs.

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