The ACLU of Michigan has settled a federal lawsuit after the Michigan Department of Corrections agreed to a major policy change that will allow prisoners to report any abuse they witness of other inmates.

The lawsuit was filed in 2015 on behalf of Sharee Miller, a prisoner at Huron Valley women’s prison, who was fired from her job as a prisoner observation aide (POA) because she wrote letters to advocacy organizations reporting incidents of severe abuse and neglect that she personally witnessed.

"There’s no excuse for abuse or neglect of prisoners,” said Dan Korobkin, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Michigan. “The Department of Corrections did the right thing by changing its policy to recognize that anyone who witnesses such atrocious acts has the right to report the misconduct without the threat of retaliation.”

The job of a POA is to maintain one-on-one observation of other prisoners who are at risk of suicide or self-harm. While working as a POA in 2014, Miller witnessed extremely disturbing incidents of staff misconduct involving the abuse and mistreatment of mentally ill female prisoners. One woman was hog-tied and left naked in her cell for nearly five hours while screaming out in pain. Another woman who was dehydrated, delirious, vomiting, and eventually foaming at the mouth was ignored until she became unresponsive, went into cardiac arrest and suffered permanent brain damage.

When Miller attempted to get help for these women and bring these incidents to the attention of advocates and authorities outside the facility, she was terminated from her job in retaliation for her efforts.

Corrections officials argued that Miller violated confidentiality rules by reporting the abuse. After a federal judge rejected the state’s efforts to have the lawsuit dismissed, a settlement was reached just days before a trial was scheduled to begin.

Under the settlement approved by a federal judge today, Michigan prison policy will be changed to allow POAs to report mistreatment to a government oversight agency or state-designated protection and advocacy organization whose mission includes the protection of prisoners’ civil rights. Miller will be reinstated to her position as a POA, compensated for her lost wages, and have her record cleared of having been terminated for violating prison rules.

After Miller reported the abuse, the federal government expanded an investigation at Huron Valley. Experts who visited the prison condemned the use of hog-tying restraints and reported that concerns raised by POAs were being ignored. The state eventually agreed to reforms.

In addition to Korobkin, Miller was represented by ACLU of Michigan cooperating attorneys Daniel Quick, Kathleen Cieslik, Emily Burdick, Angelina Irvine, and Alma Sobo at Dickinson Wright.

Case background is at: https://www.aclumich.org/en/cases/retaliation-reporting-abuse-and-neglect

Background information about the federal investigation regarding the treatment of vulnerable prisoners at Huron Valley women’s prison is at: https://www.clearinghouse.net/detail.php?id=15417

Residents at more than 112,000 Detroit households had their water disconnected between 2014 and October 2018, simply because they couldn’t afford to pay.

Today a civil rights coalition filed a petition with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), urging the state agency to require the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) to suspend water shutoffs to avoid a public health emergency. Denying Detroit residents access to water can pose a public health hazard, according to studies cited in today’s filing.

“The public health crisis DWSD creates by shutting off water service for thousands of people is completely avoidable,” said Mark P. Fancher, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s Racial Justice Project.  “If they simply agreed to adopt a plan that makes water affordable for even the poorest customers, mass water shutoffs and the dangerous conditions they create would not occur.”

While the petition specifically cites studies and reports that warn of potential disease epidemics and mass contagion, it also cites health issues that are occurring because of the loss of water services.

These include:

• Low infant weight resulting from inability to prepare baby formula;
• Elevated blood pressure brought on by the stress of not having water; 
• Illnesses resulting from consumption of rain water from barrels;
• Diabetics who suffer complications because of the inability to prepare meals with clean water;
• Chronic urinary tract infections among women and children; 
• Upper respiratory illnesses; and
• Chronic and infected eczema and other skin disorders.

After years of research, advocacy and litigation, the coalition’s petition is the latest effort to end mass water shutoffs that are often prompted by, among other things, inaccurate billing, and water rates that do not reflect the economic realities of low-income customers. DWSD has also been unwilling to adopt a water affordability plan for low-income residents.

“An affordability plan could be a win-win for the city utility and low-income customers,” said attorney Alice Jennings, founding partner of Edwards & Jennings, P.C.  “DWSD would receive payments from customers who were unable to pay rates they were charged in the past, and the need for shutoffs would be drastically reduced if not eliminated.”

“By shutting off water to people who can’t afford to pay, Detroit is prioritizing affluent residents,” said Jerome Goldberg, attorney with Moratorium Now. “We hope that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services values the health and quality of life of all residents and forces Detroit to suspend water shut offs.”

“Every resident in Detroit has a right to clean water, regardless of their income,” said Anthony Adams, former City of Detroit Deputy Mayor, Interim Director of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, and now founding partner of Marine-Adams Law, P.C.  “In a major city like Detroit, it is unacceptable for the city to deny residents an affordable water rate and create a potential public health emergency by shutting off water.”