Rick Speck Spent 18 Years in Prison — Now He’s Working to Cut Incarceration in Half

Speck is the ACLU of Michigan’s Detroit Smart Justice field organizer. He’ll talk about the effort Wednesday at an ACLU pop up at Cobo.

Jake Neher/WDET

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) turns 100 next year. To celebrate, the organization is on a nationwide tour that features pop-up interactive exhibitions about voting rights, immigrants’ rights and mass incarceration.

That tour comes to Detroit’s Cobo Center on Wednesday. It includes an exhibition for the ACLU of Michigan’s Smart Justice Campaign, which aims to cut incarcerations in half.

Rick Speck is the Detroit Smart Justice Field Organizer. Speck spent more than 18 years in prison himself for impersonating a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and robbing drug houses.

He joins Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson to share his personal story and discuss ways it informs his advocacy for criminal justice reform.

Click on the audio player above to hear that conversation.

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