Nearly a year into a pandemic that has taken more than 370,000 lives nationwide, the Calhoun County Jail in southwestern Michigan continues to place the people held there in grave danger because “fundamental, structural issues remain that Calhoun has either overlooked or explicitly chosen to ignore.” 

That devastating assessment comes from Dr. Homer Venters, an expert witness in an ongoing class action lawsuit intended to win the release of medically vulnerable immigrants being held at the facility under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  

Last April, the ACLU of Michigan, national ACLU and law firm Paul Weiss filed the class action lawsuit against ICE in federal court on behalf of immigrants detained in the Calhoun County Jail—the largest ICE detention site in Michigan with approximately 130 immigrants detained there—during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The legal organizations seek the immediate release of people who are in civil detention and, due to age and/or significant medical conditions, are at high risk for serious illness or death in the event of COVID-19 infection. So far, more than 40 people, have been released on bail because of the action. 

An expert inspection and report were ordered done by U.S. District Court Judge Judith E. Levy, who is presiding over the class action lawsuit, following COVID-19 outbreaks at the jail in October and November, when the virus rapidly infected many of those detained. 

Dr. Venter’s report, submitted this month, involved an extensive review of jail records as well as an eight-hour facility inspection that included interviews with both people being detained and staff.  

Judge Levy will use the report to decide on future releases.  ICE has claimed that immigrants are now safe at Calhoun County Jail and so they should not be released, but the report shows clearly that is not true. Because immigrants can sit in jail for months while fighting deportation, noncitizens being held at Calhoun are put at significantly greater risk than the general jail population, which can cycle in and out of the facility with much more frequency.  An analysis of jail records between May and December 2020 shows that 47 of the 72 positive cases (65 percent) identified at the jail were immigrants detained by ICE, even though they comprised only 17 percent of the people who passed through the jail during the nine-month period. 

Especially precarious is the situation for immigrants with underlying health conditions that put them in significantly greater jeopardy if exposed to the coronavirus. 

“For individuals who face a higher risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, this setting presents a serious danger because Calhoun is unlikely to prevent the entry of new infections and, more importantly, does not have the systems in place to adequately catch and prevent transmission of new infections…,” reported Dr. Venters, a physician and epidemiologist who specializes in matters related to medical care of incarcerated people. 

The report contains specific examples of outrageous disregard for the wellbeing of people held at the jail. Particularly shocking is the story of one person assigned the job of delivering food trays throughout the facility. 

“He told the administrator in charge of the work details that he felt ill on October 13 and was seen by a physician that day,” according to the report. “The detainee was worried he had COVID-19 because he had a runny nose, sore throat and body aches. He also told the physician about the other tray runner … who was ill in his housing area and stated that health staff needed to go check him out. The physician assessed him as being dehydrated and needing to drink more water but told him that he should return to his normal duties as tray runner that day, without any COVID-19 testing. 

“The detainee felt progressively ill over the following three days and reported this to the facility staff, but he was told to work regardless, going between different housing units. He was not tested or checked for COVID-19 signs or symptoms until Saturday evening, October 17, after his shift ended and he was finally taken back to the medical clinic to be tested for COVID-19.” 

The test came back positive, meaning the man was allowed to continue moving throughout the entire facility for at least four days while contagious with the virus after first seeking medical help and asking to be tested. 

Another tray runner, who became ill around the same time, was deported to Guatemala without being tested or transferred to medical isolation, according to the report. 

Another cause for concern is a lack of transparency and candor on the part of jail officials.  

There were multiple instances of officials claiming one thing and the people being detained contradicting those claims.  

To cite just one example, Dr. Venters noted that he was told by jail officials that, “in instances when detained people were identified as potentially having COVID-19, there was a cleaning protocol in place to have specially trained security staff clean the living spaces where those people had been housed, and that specially trained detainee cleaning crews may also engage in this work.” 

People being detained had a radically different account of what really happened. They told Dr. Venters that, after people diagnosed with COVID-19 were removed from their units, that no such cleaning occurred. 

“I asked about special cleaning of areas where COVID-19 positive detainees had been sleeping, and nobody had ever seen correctional staff or any work details of detained people clean these areas after someone left for medical isolation,” Dr. Venters reported. 

Several people reported that the hand sanitizer stations were recently installed, had quickly run out of hand sanitizer, were empty for at least two weeks, and were refilled just a day or two before the inspection,” according to the report. “One detainee reported asking security staff about the refilling of these dispensers and reported being told that it would be refilled ‘for Christmas.’” 

In general, Dr. Venters said, “I was struck by the extreme discrepancies between what Calhoun staff and detainees reported. I was also struck by the consistency of the reports among the detainees and inmates whom I interviewed. In my experience, consistent reports by multiple detainees is a good indicator of the actual practices in a facility, and is a more accurate reflection of day-to-day practices than the ‘cleaned-up’ version of a facility that is typically presented during a tour itself.” 

These same types of concerns also extended to safety precautions being taken by medical personnel, who work for a for-profit company contracted to provide healthcare at the facility. 

“All but one person I spoke with about the fingertip pulse oximetry devices (used to measure blood oxygen saturation levels) reported that they were not cleaned or disinfected between uses by different patients,” Dr. Venters reported. “A person I spoke with had been in a quarantine setting when COVID-19 screenings were occurring and reported that he had filed multiple grievances with the health staff concerning their failure to wipe down or otherwise clean or disinfect the pulse oximetry devices between uses. He reported being told by health staff that they did not have adequate supplies to clean or disinfect the pulse oximetry device between uses and that it was his responsibility to wash his hands after COVID-19 screenings.” 

Taken as a whole, the report submitted by Dr. Venters offers compelling proof that the lives of immigrants being held at the Calhoun County Jail are being unnecessarily placed at risk. Given the jail’s dismal record dealing with two major outbreaks that occurred late last year, and its concerted efforts to conceal the truth about what’s actually happening at the facility, he has little confidence people running the jail and the facility’s medical personnel will do a better job going forward. 

“My most serious concerns are that the recent outbreaks … reflect a lack of response to multiple people reporting clear COVID-19 symptoms to health and security staff, that the facility’s health service does not recognize the danger of this inaction almost one year into the pandemic, and that after many rounds of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on the necessary life-saving measures, Calhoun has still failed to implement those measures,” Dr. Venters reported. 

He added that, “Calhoun is ill-equipped to catch the next set of cases among the general population, which could quickly lead to further infection. While Calhoun was fortunate not to have seen any hospitalizations or deaths from the recent outbreaks, detainees are still experiencing long-term side effects from their illnesses (which the facility is also failing to monitor), and Calhoun may not be so lucky in future outbreaks. The threat of the new, more transmissible strain of COVID-19 provides even more cause for concern for high-risk individuals in a setting like Calhoun.” 

Eli Savit didn’t waste any time getting to work fulfilling promises made in his successful campaign to become Washtenaw County’s prosecutor. In the process, despite just taking office January 1, he’s already begun setting a standard that local prosecutors across the state should follow. 

On his first day in office, Mr. Savit rescinded “zero-tolerance” policies that, as explained on the Washtenaw County website, "require anyone who engages in certain conduct to face inflexible sanctions, regardless of the factual circumstances. Those policies have been shown to exacerbate racial and socioeconomic inequity. The data shows that they are ineffective. And they can prohibit Assistant Prosecutors from resolving a case in a manner that promotes rehabilitation and restoration. One-size-fits-all justice, simply put, is not justice at all.” 

Within days of issuing the directive ending zero-tolerance, Mr. Savit also announced that his office was abolishing the use of cash bail. Cash bail was supposed to be an incentive to get a person charged with a crime to return to court for their trial. But it has morphed into mass incarceration of the poor and people of color. If you can’t pay bail, you remain locked in jail until your case goes to trial. Along with Mr. Savit, the ACLU of Michigan also opposes this practice. 

“Cash bail is inherently inequitable and unjust. The size of a person’s bank account should never determine their freedom,” Mr. Savit said in a statement. 

Mr. Savit also agreed to partner with us and the University of Michigan on an innovative project designed to shine a light on systemic racism in the office he now leads. 

The “Prosecutor Transparency Project” will attempt to uncover potential racial inequities by collecting and analyzing data regarding decisions made by prosecutors. The nature of those choices reflects the vast power placed in the hands of prosecutors, including deciding who is charged with a crime, the nature of the charge, the penalties sought, and other crucial information such as plea-bargaining conduct. 

“I’m thrilled to have this incredible partnership in place to drill down into the data in an effort to identify and eliminate racial inequities in the Prosecutor’s Office,” Mr. Savit said when announcing the project. “We know systemic racism exists in all facets of society, and the Prosecutor’s Office is no exception. This partnership will go a long way towards helping inform how we make decisions, and ensuring that justice is dispensed in an unbiased manner moving forward. With nationally renowned experts leading our work, Washtenaw County residents will have confidence that our prosecutor’s office is treating everyone fairly and evenhandedly.” 

The starting point will be an audit conducted by independent researchers at the University of Michigan, and funded by the ACLU and Oregon-based Vital Projects Fund, in addition to U-M. The results of the project—the first of its kind to be conducted in Michigan—will be shared with the public. Two other prosecutors – Carol Siemon in Ingham County and Oakland County’s Karen McDonald – also agreed to be part of the Prosecutor Transparency Project.  

Part of a new wave of progressive prosecutors who have been winning elections in jurisdictions across the country over the past several years, Mr. Savit promised during the campaign that he would work to identify and eradicate racially disparate conduct in the county’s criminal legal system by partnering with independent, third-party researchers.  

The need for such action was highlighted in an August report released by the group Citizens for Racial Equity in Washtenaw. The report suggested that Black residents in the county were much more likely than white residents to be charged with criminal offenses. The announcement of the project fulfils a recommendation by CREW to study racially disparate treatment in depth. 

Washtenaw is not alone.  

Early last year the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration released a report showing that, based on data from a diverse sample of 20 county jails, Black men made up 6 percent of the resident population of the counties studied but accounted for 29 percent of all jail admissions.  

That sort of shocking disparity is why the ACLU, in 2017, launched its Campaign for Smart Justice, an unprecedented, multiyear effort to reduce the U.S. jail and prison population by 50 percent and to combat racial disparities in the criminal legal system. Educating the public about the vast power prosecutors have to shape the criminal legal system, and holding prosecutors accountable are key components of that campaign. 

But it is a multipronged effort that also includes working to make deep structural changes that will improve the lives of countless Michiganders. A major step in that direction was taken just last week when, after years of work by the ACLU of Michigan and our many partners, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a package of bipartisan reform legislation that will greatly reduce the number of people spending time in jail for minor offenses such as driving without a valid license. 

But the work is far from over. 

In terms of priorities, we and others across the state are setting our sights on dismantling Michigan’s cash bail system. Thanks to the actions taken by Mr. Savit, Washtenaw County will be in a position to show the rest of the state how a system without cash bail can work. 

“To be clear, our policy still allows for the detention of people who pose an imminent threat to the community,” Mr. Savit explained. Our office will never consent to pretrial release unless we are satisfied that conditions are in place to ensure public safety. But we will no longer perpetuate a system of wealth-based detention.” 

It is a move other prosecutors across Michigan should follow. It is especially important that recently elected prosecutors, such as Ms. McDonald in Oakland County, who ran pledging to pursue reform, live up to those promises.  

But ending cash bail can’t just be done on a piecemeal basis. It is too important an issue to only leave in the hands of prosecutors, many of whom still adhere to outdated tough-on-crime, incarceration-driven policies that have proven to be a failure. To that end, we and others will be working with the Michigan Legislature in the coming months to change the system throughout all of Michigan.