Michigan House moves to revise prison alternatives for youth

According to our reporting partners at Michiana's News Channel, the Michigan State House has just approved a handful of bills, including House Bill 413500. That bill will revise prison sentences for young offenders in a program called the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act.

It's a program for 17 to 20 year olds who have pleaded guilty to a crime and would be sentenced to prison or probation. But this program allows the convicted juveniles to go without a conviction on their record.

The new changes would extend the age of this program to 24 years old and allow courts to require participants to attend school or have a job.

These new bills would also limit the maximum prison time for people in this program but it would also limit who could be in the program depending on what crimes have been committed.