Expert cites systemic failures in Michigan prisons

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(The Center Square) – Concerns over conditions in Michigan's correctional facilities are fueling a bipartisan push for prison reform.

Three inmates have died at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in less than a month, while four of six housing units at Muskegon Correctional Facility were quarantined following a scabies outbreak.

Lisa Esser-Weidenfeller, a civil rights attorney with the Michigan-based law firm Sommers Schwartz P.C., told The Center Square in an exclusive interview that these recent incidents point to deeper systemic problems within the state’s prison system.

“When you have three unexpected deaths at Huron Valley in less than a month and a widespread outbreak like the one at Muskegon, you are looking at evidence of systemic operational failures,” Esser-Weidenfeller said. “Under the Eighth Amendment, the state assumes an absolute constitutional obligation to provide adequate medical care and safe living conditions to those it incarcerates, and right now, it isn't meeting that standard.”

This is not a new problem though, according to Esser-Weidenfeller.

"What's happening in Michigan's prisons isn't new. Legislative hearings have been held for years," she said. "The story is less 'why is this happening' and more 'why has nothing changed'—and the answer to that is institutional, not incidental. These are people in state custody, and the state is failing them."

Bipartisan legislation has been proposed in the state House aimed at increasing oversight and transparency within Michigan’s prison system.

House Bills 5920 and 5921, introduced by state Reps. Jennifer Wortz, R-Quincy, and Karl Bohnak, R-Deerton, would expand the authority of the Legislative Corrections Ombudsman and broaden who can file complaints regarding conditions inside state prisons.

Current law only allows prisoners and legislators to file complaints with the Legislative Corrections Ombudsman, an independent office that investigates complaints involving the Michigan Department of Corrections.

Under the proposed legislation, corrections employees, family members of prisoners or corrections officers, and prisoner advocates would also be allowed to submit complaints.

Esser-Weidenfeller said she has been encouraged by this legislative push.

“There's some legislative momentum building,” she said. “The House bills introduced this session signal that lawmakers are responding to public pressure, and the bipartisan co-sponsorship is encouraging."

That said, Esser-Weidenfeller said prison reforms must go beyond what has been proposed so far in the House bills. She called for adequate medical care for inmates, while also citing aging facilities, overcrowding and deteriorating infrastructure as factors contributing to poor prison conditions.

“You cannot remediate a public health crisis inside a building housing nearly twice the population it was designed for,” she said. “The mold, the failing ventilation, the contamination that an inmate was forced to clean without protective equipment—these are foreseeable consequences of chronic overcrowding.”

The bills remain before the House Judiciary Committee and have yet to receive a hearing or committee vote. Esser-Weidenfeller says the real test will come only if the bills move forward.

“Bills are a starting point, not an outcome,” she said. “The measure of whether reform is real will be whether they are passed and if they create independent oversight with enforcement authority, not just another layer of internal review that the current system can manage around.”

Esser-Weidenfeller emphasized that prison reform is a constitutional issue rather than a partisan one.

“This is a human rights issue, which means it shouldn't have a party affiliation,” she said. “The right to safe conditions in state custody, access to healthcare, and protection from preventable harm aren't Democratic or Republican values; they're basic constitutional standards.”

Worts previously told The Center Square she is hopeful that this bipartisan effort could be successful in passing reforms.

“It’s something everyone seems to agree on that needs to be improved," Wortz said.

While Michigan's prison system houses roughly 33,000 people, Esser-Weidenfeller argued that conditions inside correctional facilities should matter to all Michiganders. 

“When the government can neglect, injure, or fail to protect people in its own custody without consequence, it weakens the legal and moral standards that protect everyone,” she said. “This is a question of whether Michigan holds itself accountable, and that answer matters to every resident.”