Christians for Prisoners/Prisoners for Christ and the Celebration Fellowship prison congregation invite the public to an address by Barbara Levine, executive director of Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending (CAPPS), on the topic Strategies for Safely Reducing the Prisoner Population.
The event will take place at 7 pm Tuesday, April 26, at Church of the Servant CRC, 3835 Burton St SE, Grand Rapids. It is supported by a grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, with funds provided by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.
CAPPS (www.capps-mi.org/) is a non-profit public policy organization that is “concerned about Michigan’s excessive use of punitive strategies rather than preventive ones to deal with crime and its impact on our quality of life. CAPPS advocates re-examining policies and shifting our resources to services that prevent crime, rehabilitate offenders and address the needs of all our citizens in a cost-effective manner. To achieve its goals, CAPPS develops data-driven proposals for reducing the prison population while ensuring public safety.”
Barbara Levine, who has represented indigent felony defendants and taught law school, has been the executive director of CAPPS since it was founded in 2000. She holds bachelor’s and J.D. degrees from the University of Michigan and has been a member of the Michigan Bar since 1974. She was the first administrator of the Michigan Appellate Assigned Counsel System and was a founding member of the Prisons and Corrections Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She has been a member of the State Bar Standing Committee on Character and Fitness for more than a decade. She is also a former chair of the board of Prison Legal Services of Michigan.
For more information about this event, please contact Rich Rienstra, pastor/developer of Celebration Fellowship, at richrienstra@hotmail.com.