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Fact check: What Abdul El-Sayed said about prison sentences, freeing inmates

September 20, 2026

Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers and GOP-aligned groups are attacking Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed with claims that he supports abolishing prisons and releasing violent criminals, based on his 2018 gubernatorial campaign positions and participation in a 2020 pandemic-era panel discussion. While El-Sayed has advocated for criminal justice reforms including reducing prison populations and addressing cash bail, he has not called for eliminating prisons entirely and specifically limited his 2018 proposals to "low risk" individuals convicted as minors. The Republican attacks reference El-Sayed's proposal to review sentences of people convicted before age 18 and his 2020 comments supporting decarceration during COVID-19, omitting key context about his focus on risk assessment and public health concerns.

Who is affected

  • Abdul El-Sayed (Democratic US Senate candidate)
  • Mike Rogers (Republican US Senate candidate and former law enforcement official)
  • Michigan voters in the upcoming Senate race
  • Approximately 4,000 people in Michigan prisons who were sentenced before age 18
  • Marc Osborn (convicted of murder as a minor, used as example in attack ads)
  • Former juvenile offenders who participated in the 2020 panel discussion
  • Retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters (whose seat is being contested)

What action is being taken

  • The Senate Leadership Fund is running 30-second TV advertisements attacking El-Sayed
  • Rogers' campaign is making claims on his campaign website about El-Sayed's positions
  • Bridge Michigan is fact-checking claims as part of their coverage of the Senate race
  • Both campaigns are issuing statements defending their positions through spokespersons

Why it matters

  • This matters because it demonstrates how criminal justice reform positions can be weaponized in political campaigns through selective omission of context, particularly the distinction between targeted reforms for specific populations versus blanket policies. The race is described as "fiercely competitive" for a US Senate seat, meaning these attack ads could influence the outcome of an important federal election. The controversy highlights the ongoing political tension between progressive criminal justice reform advocates and traditional tough-on-crime messaging, with significant implications for how candidates approach these issues publicly.

What's next

  • No explicit next steps stated in the article

Read full article from source: bridgedetroit.com