New Event!

Dinner, live music, feature film, and more!

Single film tickets available now!

Our annual Fall event, Voices of Humanity, is only three days away, and seating has become limited! It’s your opportunity to see the premiere showing of a brand new documentary, Wronged: The Maurice Carter Story. It’s the story of HFP Founder, Doug Tjapkes, spending years at the side of Maurice Carter while fighting for his freedom. Maurice, an indigent Indiana man, served 29 years in Michigan's prison system for a crime he did not commit. The film features testimonies and stories from key people who played a role not only in Maurice’s story, but also in the founding and life-giving work of Humanity for Prisoners. It’s one of the most inspiring films you will ever see, created by Nate Roels, the same award-winning producer who brought us Behind Our Walls. By attending, you will support our mission and be part of a community that believes in the power of truth and justice.

You can still become a sponsor for this exciting and unique event!

Executive Producer, $10,000+ — 12 VIP film tickets & dinner reception

Producer, $5,000+ — 8 VIP film fickets & dinner reception

Director, $2,500+ — 6 VIP film tickets & dinner reception

Headliner, $1,000+ — 4 VIP film tickets & dinner reception

Star, $500 — 2 VIP film tickets & dinner reception

If becoming an event sponsor doesn't interest you, we'd still love to have your presence at our event!

Single Film & Dinner Reception Ticket: $100+

Single Film Ticket: $25+

We can't wait to make a difference together by sharing this special night with you! Click here to secure your seats for this impactful film while there's still time to do so!

From the Desk of Doug

HFP's quiet birthday

Deafening silence!

The birthday of Humanity for Prisoners came and went on August 29. No party, no cake, no splashy headlines. Another day in the office, as an impressive team of compassionate workers aimed to convince Michigan’s incarcerated population that they matter.

Reflecting on that date 23 years ago, there was no ceremony in 2001, either. The bylaws were signed, a few friends agreed to serve on a Board of Directors, an 800- telephone number was purchased, two web sites were started, and I kept right on selling church organs for a living.

But, assembling my articles for this newsletter reminded me that this is no quiet matter.

Among the topics in this month’s items: a new documentary about my 9-year fight to free Maurice Carter; a wedding notice of HFP’s new CEO (a former client, formerly incarcerated!); a proud notice that the stage play about the Maurice Carter story was granted a reading at a prestigious international film festival; an announcement that one of our board members received significant recognition for her work on behalf of “the least of these.”

The exciting thing: This is just the tip of the iceberg! 

The silence is deafening!

All of our team members receive messages like the one that came in a recent letter to me: You are loved by those of us here whom you have touched. You’ll always be a “light” in my memories of the darkest, loneliest and hardest years of my life!

New Book!

Now available

“With compelling story-telling in crisp vignettes, Doug Tjapkes—a skilled journalist with a beachball-sized heart—enables us to empathize with prisoners, to envision redemption, and to embrace grace. An inspiring memoir that speaks for ‘the least of these,’ reminding us of their, and our, humanity.” — David Myers, Professor of Psychology, Hope College, and author, Psychology, 14th Edition.

Click here to purchase two! One for you, and one for your church library.

New Bride!

Join us in congratulating our Executive Director, Mark Hartman, and Michele Emmons, who united in marriage on August 10, 2024.

New Exposure!

Justice for Maurice Henry Carter reading at the 2024 International Black Theatre Festival

A play inspired by the friendship between HFP Founder, Doug Tjapkes, and Maurice Carter received a special honor! The drama was granted a reading in the Garland Lee Thompson Sr. Readers’ Theatre of New Works at the 2024 International Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on August 2nd. Justice for Maurice Henry Carter by Canadian playwrights Donald Molnar and Alicia Payne illuminates Maurice’s wrongful conviction. The reading, directed by Donald Owens, artistic director of Arena Players in Baltimore, generated exciting response.

New Honor!

An HFP board member has been selected to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2024 Class of Influential Women of the Law! Distinguished Professor Emeritus Marla Mitchell-Cichon was named, along with two Cooley graduates. Each year, the Women of the Law program honors 35 women attorneys and judges for their excellent work on behalf of the justice system and for their clients, their commitment to their communities, and their service to the profession. 

New Comments!

Michigan prisoners speak out on healthcare, drugs, and gratitude

Healthcare: I witnessed a man having a heart attack last year. The medical staff showed up without a respirator mask, and, didn't know how to use the defibrillator. The machine sat in instructional mode the whole time. The man passed away right outside of my cell door. Not one time did staff perform CPR or compressions on the man. It's bad in here. You can ask any prisoner. We have no reason to cover things up like the MDOC does. Staff are under-qualified for medical emergencies of any kind. The ambulance is at my current facility at least five times a week. How much does that cost taxpayers?

Drugs: These facilities are riddled with drugs. I have seen more drugs inside of prison than I ever saw in the streets. It’s terrifying! Meth, Heroin, marijuana wax, suboxone and more. The drugs in here cause a ton of the danger. I have witnessed an inmate use the drug and then go into a raging episode and begin to assault someone…even assault staff. I have witnessed staff giving drugs to prisoners. It took me a minute to figure out how the drugs are even coming into the facility but I found out and it was very shocking when I learned it is the officers. I cannot even begin to describe the environment here.

Gratitude: You are loved by those of us here whom you have touched. You’ll always be a “light” in my memories of the darkest, loneliest and hardest years of my life!

Prisons, far from providing a path to redemption, often exacerbate the very issues they aim to resolve.

 ― Rove Monteux