Mayhem in Michigan: Women Prisoners Expose Mold, Scabies, and Abuse
Inmates Also Allege Male Correction Officers Are Watching Them Shower,
National Petition Launched to Have Governor Gretchen Whitmer Intervene
By Lily Chahine & Jennifer Szenay, Prison Radio Staff
This report is not enough to describe the public health nightmare that is the women’s prison in Ypsilanti, Michigan (Women’s Huron Valley, WHV). The decrepit building hosts decades old ventilation systems, leaky roofs, scabies outbreaks, and moldy walls that are painted over rather than treated. These conditions are an immense danger to the health and safety of every individual forced to live within them.
Naykima Hill called into Prison Radio to report the appalling reality. She was forced to live in an old gym, a “condemned building… [with] no heat [and] no sprinkler system because they’re doing construction.” Even their rights to safe food and water are in peril: Naykima describes that “you can literally taste the mold in the water.” She and other incarcerated women describe the conditions in more graphic detail in the commentary below, and their reports are avouched by past reports from as early as 2013. A class action complaint has been launched against the Michigan Department of Corrections for the overgrowth of mold; constant exposure to mold without new ventilation systems is an active threat to respiratory and skin health, with potentially lifetime afflictions such as asthma, memory loss, and cognitive impairment.
Naykima Hill called Prison Radio on behalf of women inmates urging Governor Gretchen Whitmer to address their grievances. Prison Radio provided From The G-Man the audio of that call.
Naykima reached out to let us know exactly what was happening at their facility. Please take a few minutes today to contact Governor Gretchen Whitmer through this e-form and request immediate action to address the dangerous conditions of WHV, accelerate the release of women stranded in this decrepit institution, to address the public health crisis at WHV, and accelerate the release of the infirmed, elderly, pregnant and those with pre-existing conditions.
The makeshift housing unit has only “two showers for 36 women,” and Naykima notes that she’s “being filmed and… that there’s males up there that are able to see us.” Naykima’s experience is not an aberration; Michigan women’s prisons have been an environment rife with sexual abuse and intimidation for decades. Though the state paid a cumulative $100 million in settlements of cases involving harassment and abuse at the hands of male correctional officers and implemented, conditions have not improved.
As would be expected, the pandemic has only worsened the threat WHV poses to incarcerated individuals’ health and safety. WHV is incredibly overcrowded, partly due to the fact that the incarceration of women is rising at alarming rates. The facility is built for 1100 but currently houses 2200 women on average—over capacity by 100%. One of the core tenants of COVID prevention—social distancing—is thus rendered impossible for those forced to live in WHV.
Write to Ms. Hill on Jpay at #270530 or at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional, 3201 Bemis Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48197.
Undeniably sad to hear these women’s voices and it is so true …the public can’t see what’s going on this is so dangerous for these women and the staff that work there. Prison officials, the warden, how dare they sleep at night
I was incarcerated here at Womans Huron Valley. Her claims are fully true. We were/am exposed to this. We didnt even have proper cleaning supplies to clean the showers with. We had a generic disinfectant to spray but it was watered down profusely. Mold was painted over. No ventilation. Our last three months before going home we had to sleep in an old gym. They called that the going home unit. Every building leaks and some units dont even have heat in the winter. The food was awful as it is, but we always found rotten food that was being served to us or they had bugs and maggots in our food. Sometimes they even ran out of food. During our so called scabies out break we had to take deworming pills for animals. Depending on how much you weighed depended on how many small tablets you took…it made a lot of us sick including me. And if we refused the medication we were threated with segregation. Which also ment if we went to seg we could have possibly lost our parole. I stand with the women at the Valley. I sure hope the Governor has the ability to fix this problem that has been going on for years.
Did 3 years in there 2011-2014 mold, heat exhaustion, no hot water in the winter, moldy food maggots in the food, sexual harrasment, suicides, drug overdoses daily from offices bringing in drugs and constant overcrowding.
I was just recently released from prison about 3 months ago and everything these women are saying is true facts. After serving 17.5 years incarcerated I’m fully aware of the effects that the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility can have on each person residing there.
I have had issues with my skin and breathing ever since I broke out with a mold rash many years ago. My skin is
severely scarred from the damage the rash did to me.
I also know that the plumbing and heating in Unit 4 has been an issue for over 10 years as usually in the wi ter you’d have to choose either hot water to shower in or heat to live in.
Light needs to be she’d on the facility, as the Wardens and staff have been trying to hide these issues for years.
The complete disrespect and utter use of authority has been an issue that’s been brewing and building up for years. This comes from more than 60% of staff.
Now, I am fully aware that as “inmates”, there comes some known rules and regulations that needs to be followed but, over the years the littlest of things will get you yelled at, degraded, and verbally abused more than the bigger issues that should be looked into.
That’s just a few issues that is wrong within the facility.
I will say I was too incarserated for 9 years and doing 3 more on a violation ,,however when Scott a closed and we moved to the valley I was an inmate who was instructed to paint over the mold in unit 3
#543061 2009-2018
Kima is 100% telling the truth! I moved into unit 5 in 2010. The heat was broken. They fixed it in 2018