LANSDOWNE, VA, December 20, 2011—Justice Fellowship announces the appointment of Craig DeRoche, former Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, as their Director of External Affairs. DeRoche will work with federal and state officials to reform the criminal justice system.
Justice Fellowship advocates for criminal justice reforms, and is a division of Prison Fellowship Ministries (PFM), which was founded by Chuck Colson after his prison sentence for a Watergate-related offense. Prison Fellowship works to restore the broken lives of prisoners and their families, and Justice Fellowship works to repair our broken criminal justice system.
“Craig’s experience as Speaker of the Michigan House provides a wealth of experience to our ministry. At a time when the states are struggling to balance their budgets, and the costs of prisons are skyrocketing, it is great to be able to provide state officials the help of a conservative Republican who helped cut the cost of prisons in Michigan while keeping the crime rate down,” said Jim Liske, CEO of PFM and former pastor of Ridge Point Church in Holland, Michigan. “Craig was a rising star in Michigan government. We are blessed to have a leader with his talents to help in our work with states.”
DeRoche said, “I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to serve in this capacity at Justice Fellowship at such a critical time in our nation’s history and when so many in the conservative movement are joining this cause.” DeRoche added, “After becoming honest about my own struggles with alcoholism, I felt strongly that my life experience – both the good and bad—could be used to help others.”
Craig DeRoche was elected Speaker at the age of 34 making him the youngest Speaker in the nation and one of the youngest statewide leaders in the GOP at the time. After being arrested twice in 2010 for alcohol related charges, DeRoche entered treatment and has become active in the addiction recovery community. DeRoche has been married to Stacey for 13 years and has three young daughters.
Upon hearing of DeRoche’s new role, Michigan Senator John Proos who chairs the Corrections and Judiciary Subcommittee said, “I have worked with Craig for many years and have found him to be both hard working and dedicated to conservative initiatives. His participation in the ongoing effort to reform our criminal justice systems both here in Michigan and nationwide, will help to establish new initiatives that will lead to decreased costs while increasing our ability to reform those that have been incarcerated.”