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Marcus Kelley joins calls for criminal justice reform in Michigan

July 1, 2024

“Formerly incarcerated individuals, their loved ones and allies held a Rally For Reform event on Tuesday [June 25], calling on the Legislature to prioritize several criminal justice reform packages that have been untouched for months — which has shaken their trust in Michigan’s Democratic leadership. …

Gretchen Whitmer, … Why don’t you want to pass any criminal justice reform bills?

“Putting people in prison is expensive and separating families is expensive, said Marcus Kelley [Leading with Conviction™ 2024 participant], a criminal justice reform advocate and formerly incarcerated individual. State funding would be better spent on youth programming to divert from crime than towards incarceration.

“‘Gretchen Whitmer, that is who we need to be talking to. Why don’t you want to pass any criminal justice reform bills? Why?’ Kelley said. ‘They’d rather destroy a school. That’s why these children right here have got to do a fish fry to raise money for jerseys and the travel and dance competitions and stuff, but they can’t get money from our government to do that because they would rather pay money to incarcerate us.’ …

“Kelley encouraged the crowd to look beyond [House Speaker Joe] Tate or other lawmakers of color who are more likely to be blamed for why criminal justice reform doesn’t move forward. Instead, he encouraged individuals involved with incarceration reform to run for office at the highest level …”

Read the full story at MichiganAdvance.com.

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