MICRO-BIO

• Mary Heinen (Glover) is a social justice activist and human rights worker. Born into a middle class family in the prison town of Jackson, Michigan, Mary married a man who pulled the trigger in a small rural town crime, thus effecting her conviction..

  Mary Heinen (Glover) is a social justice activist and human rights worker. Born into a middle class family in the prison town of Jackson, Michigan, Mary married a man who pulled the trigger in a small rural town crime, thus effecting her conviction as aider and abettor of murder, for life in prison. In 1979 Mary initiated and won the landmark case: Glover vs. Johnson, 478 F. Supp. 1075. This case established as the law of the land in the United States that women prisoners have the constitutional right to parity/equality in education, access to the courts, treatment, classification, wages, vocational training, placement, libraries, facilities, and state industries as do similarly-situated men. The case was one of several civil rights cases Mary and the women prisoners would go on to win. Mary’s sentence was ultimately commuted after serving 27 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. She was freed on August 14, 2002 and has since completed four years of parole and was discharged. An actress, poet, story-teller, and visual artist, Mary now lives in Ann Arbor and works at The University of Michigan's Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) which she helped found in 1990. She is the Portfolio and Linkage Administrator, creating art workshops and linkages for youth and adults in lock-ups and prisons and after reentry. Additionally, she serves as a Steering Team member with the Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative (MPRI). Mary is currently a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit brought by women who were sexually abused by state employees while in custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections. Less

EXPERIENCE

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