LANSING — Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) has issued the following statement after being named by Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint) to the bipartisan Michigan Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration to reform Michigan’s justice system.
“It’s an honor to be appointed to serve on the Michigan Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration. Michigan’s jail system is broken — it’s unacceptable that jail populations have nearly tripled in the last 35 years while crime is at a 50-year low. I’m eager to be among a group of capable people who will dig deep within our justice system to make a difference for families who have lost a loved one to a system that overly, and inconsistently, prosecutes people of color. We have much work to do.”
Sen. Santana joins Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake), Attorney General Dana Nessel, Chief Justice Bridget McCormack, Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrest II and 15 other officials across numerous organizations on the task force.
The Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration was established by Governor Whitmer’s Executive Order No. 2019-10. The Task Force acts in an advisory capacity with the goal of developing innovative and thorough recommendations for changes in state law, policy, and appropriations to expand alternatives to jail, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Michigan’s justice systems.
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