More Support For 15-Year-Old Girl Jailed For Not Doing Homework

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — A group of organizations have come together in support of a 15-year-old Black Oakland County girl who has garnered attention after being incarcerated for violating her probation for not doing her online homework, along with other reasons.

The group on Wednesday issued a joint statement requesting the girl, whose identity has not been released but who has been referred to as "Grace," be released from Oakland County Michigan Children Village Detention Center, where it said she has been held away from her mother for 76 days.

"We stand in solidarity against the School to Prison Pipeline, which we know serves as the primer for mass incarceration of Black, Brown, and disenfranchised people," the group, which has referred to itself as the #FreeGrace Community Collective, said in a statement. "We stand against the Prison Industrial Complex as it unfairly exchanges the lives of Black, Brown, and disenfranchised people for profit. It does so by creating false narratives regarding Black, Brown, and disenfranchised people in such a way that society believes they should be detained or imprisoned."

Related: 15-Year-Old Girl Incarcerated For Not Doing Homework

The teen was on probation after she was charged with assault in 2019. Weeks later, she was charged with larceny.

Grace was placed in the juvenile facility in May after failing to complete class assignments from Groves High School in Beverly Hills after the school switched to online learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The judge, Oakland County Judge Mary Ellen Brennan, ruled that the girl failed to submit schoolwork, and did not get up for school.

On May 14, Brennan ordered Grace to Children’s Village Detention Center in Pontiac.

After Grace's story was published on July 14 in a joint effort by ProPublica, The Detroit Free Press and Bridge Magazine, public pressure mounted for her release.

Related: Rally Held For Teen Incarcerated For Not Doing Homework

Michigan Liberation Action Fund and other community organizations have held several protests demanding accountability.

Some of the group that form the #FreeGrace Community Collective include the Michigan Liberation Action Fund, 1StrongSister, EveryBlackGirl, Inc., #FreeGrace Change.org petition creators and other community supporters.

More than 300,000 signatures have made the #FreeGrace change.org petition, while over 6,000 letters have been written in support of Grace to state and county officials, the group said.

The group said Wednesday that Brennan violated the governor’s shelter in place order by sentencing Grace to the detention center, and her actions toward Grace further demonstrate the bias toward Black children that attribute to the disparate treatment of Black, Brown and disenfranchised children.

The group presented a list of demands relating to the case and is asking residents to write to community and state officials to request Grace's release.

The demands are:

1. Request Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Attorney General Nessel to hold Brennan in violation of the governor's shelter in place order that prohibited her from sentencing people to detention or residential placement unless the person posed a substantial and immediate safety risk to others;
2. Demand Oakland County Executive David Coulter and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard to make an official recommendation to Brennan that Grace be released to her mother's care immediately;
3. Demand Prosecutor Jessica Cooper maintain her position that Grace be released to her mother's care and enter the stipulated order for Grace's release;
4. Request Chief Judge Shalina Kumar review Brennan cinduct for violating Whitmer's order and failing to protect the anonymity of and causing trauma to Grace and her mother, and recuse Brennan from the case.