Interviewing Michigan Democratic Candidate for Governor Bill Cobbs
Last week, I sat down for a special episode of Decarceration Nation to discuss Criminal Justice Reform in Michigan with Democratic Candidate for Governor Bill Cobbs, here is the result:
Here is some background on the issues that we discussed:
- Water
Recently, the Michigan Department of Environmental quality just agreed to allow Nestle to start removing even larger amounts of water from the Great Lakes. At almost the exact same time, the Governor’s office revealed that they would stop providing free water to the City of Flint (despite recent evidence lead levels were still high in Flint schools). Economist Mike Taillard summed up the problem pretty well:
Many disagree, but let’s accept the notion that water is a product and selling it to a corporation is one potential use for it. Nestlé paid a single application fee of $5,000 and will be required to pay a $200 annual reporting fee to extract 576,000 gallons per day of Michigan groundwater. That’s about one-third of a penny per gallon ($0.000347.) That’s several times lower than the national average cost of municipal water in residential areas (about $0.0074 per gallon and significantly higher in places like Flint). To buy Nestlé’s water, you’ll pay roughly $2.67 per gallon (a 12 pack of 12-ounce Ice Mountain water bottles sells for $2 or $3). That’s as much as 7,000 times more expensive than what Nestlé is actually paying per gallon of water. That’s one heck of a markup.
Unfortunately, lack of water is also a problem. This year, as many as 17,000 homes could be shut-off from water in Detroit because of poverty while Nestle continues to extract water for profit at a much cheaper rate.
2. Abandoned Houses in Detroit
The crisis in housing in the Detroit area had many causes, but generally thousands of homes were foreclosed on — when almost anything else would have been a better solution with better social outcomes — and then abandoned and eventually scheduled for demolition. I believe that Mr. Cobbs is referring to success stories like this amazing use of land bank resources.
3. Raise the Age
Michigan is one of only five states who still choose to presumptively try 17-year-olds as adults. Obviously, it is time for Michigan to #RaiseTheAge. The problem, currently sentencing a 17-year-old to prison means that the costs are borne by the State while sentencing a 17-year-old to jail or diversion is paid for by County Governments (I bet you can guess who is fighting hardest against the current Raise the Age bill package pending in the Michigan Legislature today).
4. Mental Health Reform in Jails and Prisons
Recently, Michigan has moved forward on the recommendations of the C.A.R.E.S. task force to try to reform mental health treatment and care throughout the state. Unfortunately, jails and prisons remain largely removed from our mental health reform efforts.
5. Suboxone and MDOC Mail Policies
Kind of a long story, but a few years ago, the company that has the patent for the Opiate Suboxone would have lost that patent unless they found a new way to deliver the drug (it used to come in a pill). As a result, they created a “strip” form that, unfortunately, can be more easily smuggled through the mail. As a result, the Michigan Department of Corrections implemented a new and very restrictive mail policy that has caused massive problems for inmates and the families of inmates.
6. Cash Bail
When you are first arrested, before you are ever sentenced, you can remain incarcerated until or unless you are capable of paying a cash bail amount (established by a judge at an arraignment). I believe it is wrong to decide who stays incarcerated and who goes free based entirely on the amount of money a person has in his or her wallet or bank account. There are a lot of tactics that the bail industry uses to scare folks away from bail reform, but I find them to mostly be red herrings and mistruths.
7. Video Visitation
As jails and prisons become more cash-strapped they are looking for ways to decrease costs and increase profits. Companies like Securus Technologies offer to pay jails a percentage of any revenue generated by video-visitation so more and more jurisdictions are choosing to end in-person visits (costs money) and increase video visitation (generates income). In-person visits are very important to generating good public safety outcomes.
8. Criminal Justice Debt
American’s are so averse to taxation that we have done everything we can to pass the costs of incarceration from taxpayers to incarcerated people and their families. Unfortunately, when you don’t have a job, have no savings, and are having a hard time finding a job it is damn near impossible to pay off thousands of dollars in criminal justice debt.
9. Police Training
Detroit has certainly had its share of police issues. Luckily, there have been some moves to address these problems starting in the communities. Mr. Cobbs was a Detroit police officer for four years and his call to more intense training focused on trauma-informed care, mental health comes from his experience in this area (I suspect).
Obviously, I am always hopeful that other candidates will sit-down or call in to discuss Criminal Justice Reform in Michigan.
Many thanks to Mr. Cobbs for being willing to sit-down for an interview with a formerly incarcerated Michigander.
Josh is the co-host of the Decarceration Nation podcast and is a blogger and freelance writer who writes about criminal justice reform, television, movies, music, politics, race, ethics, and more.
