Safe & Just Michigan

Kamau Sandiford, Clean Slate program manager of Safe & Just Michigan (SJM), explains “SJM works to advance criminal justice reforms with the goal of ending mass incarceration and creating a safer Michigan”.  They believe that justice-impacted individuals deserve a second chance and the opportunity to be reintegrated into society once their sentence has ended.  “For too long, justice-impacted individuals continue to deal with the consequences of their crime even after they are released from incarceration”, Kamau discloses.

Passion Project

Kamau is passionate about helping people remove old criminal records which have proven to be a barrier to better housing and employment.  The issue is that not everyone has access to legal services.  SJM partners with a number of local community organizations across Michigan to help put on expungement fairs and educational forums designed at increasing public awareness around the new clean slate laws.  The expungement petition process can often be confusing; the SJM team aids many by navigating the system.

Enjoyment as a MCAH member

As a MCAH member, MCAH provides SJM the opportunity to build relationships with other like minded organizations. It also gives us the opportunity to reach a group of people that have been negatively impacted by some of the laws we are actively trying to change.

Future Collaborations

“Our work is ongoing”, Kamau explains, “our hope is to chip away at the barriers and improve the criminal justice system”.  Currently, SJM focuses their energy on the lower peninsula and they understand that they need to build relationships in Northern Michigan.  When SJM is able to build these connections, they can come closer to their vision of safer Michigan communities in which everyone is responsible for creating accountability, safety and justice.