Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D.), appearing alongside a convicted murderer and a registered sex offender in a webinar with a prison abolition group, endorsed "any and all efforts to get people out of jails and prisons" and said locking up criminals was akin to "robbing" them of their freedom.
El-Sayed was the featured guest on a webinar hosted by the Carceral State Project and the American Friends Service Committee in August 2020 regarding their report "I Don't Want to Die in Prison." The American Friends Service Committee advertised the show—using the hashtags #FreeThemAll and #AbolishPrison—as a platform to "discuss the report findings and the road to decarceration and abolition with Abdul El-Sayed."
El-Sayed, who thanked his webinar hosts for "hosting such a critical conversation," endorsed "decarceration," a policy to release prisoners en masse and adopt non-prison penalties for criminals, while casting prisoners as victims of an unjust criminal justice system.
"Not only are we taking people's rights from them, but also we have failed to provide them the basic means of a dignified life," said El-Sayed. "Every choice we make about incarcerating somebody is about robbing that somebody from the people who love them and the people who need them."
"Any and all efforts to get people out of jails and prisons and to keep people out of jails and prisons is policy that we need to be investing in," El-Sayed, who is leading in most polls against his more moderate Democratic rivals Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow ahead of the August 4 Democratic Senate primary, went on.
While El-Sayed's message may not hurt his standing with Democratic voters, it could prove a political liability in November's general election for the open seat, which is considered a toss-up. Republicans have cast El-Sayed, who ran for Michigan governor in 2018, as "dangerous" and "extreme," citing his dalliance with socialists like Hasan Piker, the left-wing influencer who said that "America deserved 9/11" and that Israel is "much worse" than Hamas. El-Sayed campaigned with Amir Makled, a candidate for the University of Michigan Board of Regents who called slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah a "martyr."
El-Sayed was joined on the webinar by former prisoners Martin Vargas, a registered sex offender convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl, and LaWanda Hollister, who served 34 years in prison for second-degree murder. Months earlier, El-Sayed appeared as a podcast guest of Joshua Hoe, a former University of Michigan debate coach who pleaded guilty to soliciting a 14-year-old girl for sex. El-Sayed urged Hoe, a registered sex offender, and other ex-cons to run for political office, saying their "voice is needed," the Washington Free Beacon reported.
El-Sayed and the other panelists urged "compassionate" release, due to the coronavirus pandemic, for older Michigan prisoners and those considered at low risk of recidivism. Thousands of prisoners were granted compassionate release, including many serving time for violent offenses and others who went on to commit new crimes after their release.
Ronald Segers, released from a Michigan prison in June 2020 because of the pandemic, shot his fiancée and her mother during an incident in December 2020. In February 2021, a Detroit judge ordered the release of John Bass, a drug kingpin who was serving two life sentences for multiple murders. Bass had ordered a hit on his brother-in-law and then murdered the hitman by setting him on fire.
In April 2021, a federal judge in Detroit ordered the release of Roger Sweet, who was serving time for murdering his first wife and raping a 16-year-old girl with learning disabilities. Sweet was also suspected of killing his second wife, according to reports.
El-Sayed endorsed other soft-on-crime policies during the COVID-19 era. He has deleted social media posts from 2020 in which he endorsed the movement to "defund" police departments. He served on the board of Sunrise Movement, a left-wing group that has called to "abolish" police departments and referred to police officers as "fascist pigs," the Free Beacon reported.
El-Sayed's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
