An Alternative Path
Special Alternative Incarceration program reaches 30 years of operation
T he sun was just beginning to rise over the trees in rural southeast Michigan as a group of young men stood at attention facing a small crowd of friends and family.
The stillness of the morning would be punctuated by celebration as nine of them completed the first phase of the Michigan Department of Corrections’ Special Alternative Incarceration program.
“Today we have nine grads going home to their families,” Corporal David Bell told the soon-to-be graduates and other trainees assembled on the drill and ceremony field, who responded with an enthusiastic “Oorah!”
For 30 years, the program has offered intensive military-style discipline, programming and service work designed to help offenders set their lives in a positive direction.
It aims to instill positive values and a sense of respect for oneself and others. Trainees are held to high standards and have strictly regimented days that include work assignments, physical training and time in the classroom.
“It has increased the amount of discipline I have in my life, showed me the inner strength I have and taught me the value of integrity,” said Jacob Steele, who was among the nine graduates. “I believe it has changed me in a really positive manner.”
Setting Out
The program is meant to be intense.
New trainees are greeted at the facility with the shouts of staff who closely direct their every move from the moment they arrive and demand that they respond with “sir” or “ma’am.”
Stripping away tough, antisocial attitudes and conveying the need for immediate compliance is a major component of the program, and especially, the intake process.
At the facility in Chelsea, incoming offenders are directed to sit in a chair that faces a mirror. As another trainee shaves their head, facility staff ask them about their crime, its victims and the people in their own life who care about them. It is intended to make offenders confront their actions, realize that their past behavior is unacceptable and understand who they are hurting, said Capt. Dann Walling.
New trainees later meet with a corrections program coordinator who will go over educational and cognitive-behavioral programming they will need during their 90-day stay at the facility that is broken into segments spent with Alpha Company and Bravo Company.
In Alpha Company, trainees learn the rules and practices of life at SAI. Every action, including making their bunk, organizing their footlocker and getting dressed is tightly controlled, highly disciplined, and meant to reinforce listening and following directions. In Bravo Company, trainees have the opportunity to participate in work assignments that can help give them a sense of purpose and build soft skills.
“The trainees can see their goals happening,” Walling said. “They see progress and they see themselves doing things they never thought they could.”
Early Days
The program began in 1988 when legislation to start a Special Alternative Incarceration (SAI) program in Michigan was enacted and existing laws were amended to allow judges to sentence probationers 17 to 24 years old to the program.
The first site was Camp Sauble in northwestern Michigan, which had a capacity to house 120 offenders.
Sentencing judges were supportive of the program and as many saw it as a viable alternative to prison, legislation was introduced to expand eligibility to include prisoners, female offenders and offenders older than 25.
In 1991, the Cassidy Lake Technical School, a minimum-security facility for men, was converted to the newest and only site for the program. At one time, both male and female offenders were housed at the facility — though in separate units.
The SAI program for female offenders is now housed at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility.
To participate, offenders must meet eligibility requirements which include having no previous prison sentences.
Walling, who has worked at SAI for 26 years, said the program once had a larger focus on physical training and discipline. That focus shifted over the years to place more emphasis on programs that can help offenders succeed in the community.
“In the early days it was extremely physically intense,” Walling said. “We increased evidence-based programs and we had to look at the end result: Do we want guys to be able to run five miles, or do we want them to be able to make good decisions?”
Going Home
What is most important is that offenders leave the facility with the education, skills, and discipline they need to achieve a successful and stable life.
In 2017, 90 percent of participating offenders successfully completed the program.
“They realize they don’t have to be what they have always been,” Walling said. “It’s hard. They learn they can overcome an obstacle and have success.”
Sgt. Tyrone Sims often sees trainees on their first day of the program and on their last and said the change they experience is noticeable, including in their handshake.
“They’ll shake your hand and look you in the eye,” Sims said. “If you respect yourself, you’ll respect everyone else.”
After completing the first phase of the program at the facility, offenders move on to a period of intensive supervision in the community.
Jacob Grosvenor, a graduate of the program, said the structure it brought to his life would be helpful when he went home, as would the advice of corporals.
“One of the corporals told me throughout your entire life you have to take baby steps,” Grosvenor said. “I always wanted to take giant leaps and get somewhere fast, but now I know it takes time and effort to get to where you need to be.”
