The Michigan House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee held a hearing Feb. 24 to discuss a history of filed grievances against the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti. The reported problems involve medical neglect, specifically delayed care and lack of specialist access. Committee speakers repeatedly said the Michigan Department of Corrections and its director, Heidi Washington, should answer for alleged medical failures at the facility.
The hearing centered on a presentation from state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, summarizing WHV’s history of poor safety standards. The presentation yielded an emotional response from committee members as Pohutsky described how the consequences of medical neglect at WHV were preventable, while the families of those impacted sat in the audience. Pohutsky said she believed all Michiganders should care about this issue, regardless of carceral status.
“I want to preface all of this by acknowledging that, often, these issues are dismissed because the people that are impacted are incarcerated,” Pohutsky said. “However, I ask everyone to remember that they aren’t just that — they are people. They have lives that span far beyond the walls in which they are imprisoned with families who love and, in some cases, mourn them.”…