DETROIT (WWJ) -- Kwame Kilpatrick, now a Christian preacher, is throwing support behind a ballot proposal that would help some convicts in Michigan serve less time behind bars.
The former Detroit mayor, who traveled to Detroit from his new home in Atlanta, is pushing a petition for a plan to offer "hope" to people in the state prison system.
"The message is not really about Kwame," Rev. Kilpatrick said, "as much as it is that Kwame was on his knees on January 19, and he was praying that the heart of the king would be turned by the Lord...and it happened."
"And I know that in all these MDOC (Michigan Department of Corrections) prisons there are men and women on their knees praying that God will send somebody to help them."
Kilpatrick spoke at a news conference Wednesday, joining other faith leaders to support the "2022 Good Time Ballot Initiative."
The politician turned-felon, turned ex-con, turned-preacher half-joked “Fortunately or unfortunately, I’ve become a criminal justice expert.”
If approved by voters in November, the proposed legislation would give incarcerated people the opportunity to reduce their sentences through "productive activity" prior to their release; such as holding employment while in prison, attending college classes, a training program, anger management or rehabilitation from substance abuse. There would also be a credit for military veterans.
Supporters of the inititaive want to repeal Michigan's 1998 Truth in Sentencing law, which requires people to serve 100% of their minimum sentence before the parole board has discretion to release them, and eliminate mandatory minimum sentences.
"They know they have to do the time," Kilpatrick said. "They haven't come out and said they're innocent. They're coming out and saying we just need another chance. Their moms are begging for another chance for their songs. Their wives are begging for another chance for their husband. Mothers are trying to be reconnected to their children."
The ex-politician turned-felon turned ex-con turned-preacher half-joked that he learned quite a bit during his time behind bars. “Fortunately or unfortunately, I’ve become a criminal justice expert," Kilpatrick said.
Related
Other speakers at the press conference included Pastor Kenneth Pierce, Vice President of the Detroit NAACP, Dr. Robyn Moore, pastor at First Baptist Institutional Church, Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom, and Rev. Dr. John Duckworth, pastor of Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church.
"The vast majority of other states have some version of a ‘sentencing credit system’ that allows imprisoned people to achieve early parole through good behavior,” said Duckworth, pastor of Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church. “Michigan is one of only six states with no policy for Good Time or Earned Time Credits and as such is out of step with the rest of the country. If we are to be true to our faith, we must open the bridge of reconciliation and redemption when one has seen the errors of their ways.”
They’re asking places of worship to join and introduce the effort to congregations on Sunday, April 3, which they’re calling “Redemption Sunday."
Kilpatrick served only seven years of a 28-year federal prison sentence on racketeering, extortion, bribery and other charges related to various crimes during his time as mayor from 2002-2008.
Kilpatrick remains on supervised probation at this time.
Under Michigan law, he wouldn't be able to run for political office in Michigan until 2033.
Related
