- An autopsy ruled that Michigan women’s prison inmate Ashley Hoath died by suicide from acute aspirin poisoning
- The autopsy cited evidence of prior self-harm and a documented suicide attempt involving other drugs in 2014
- Four women have died at the prison so far in 2026, making it the facility’s deadliest year in at least half a decade
An autopsy report released Thursday determined that the third of four Michigan women to die this year at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility was caused by self-inflicted acute aspirin poisoning.
The report, completed at the Michigan Medicine Pathology and Clinical Laboratories in Ann Arbor, concluded that Ashley Hoath had a salicylate level of 80 mg/dL in her blood when she died June 6, a concentration considered severely toxic. Pill fragments were also found in her stomach.
Generally, the “therapeutic range” for salicylate – the active ingredient in pain relievers like aspirin — is between 10 and 30 mg/dL. Levels above 70 mg/dL can be toxic…