TO ALL MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS & PRISONER ADVOCACY GROUPS:

As you may be aware, in 2019 women prisoners at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV) in Ypsilanti, Michigan filed a two-count civil rights action against the Michigan Department of Corrections (Case No. 19-13442). This lawsuit alleged that Women’s Huron Valley, Michigan’s only women’s prison, is riddled with dangerous conditions which include haphazard retrofitting, leaky roofs, inoperable windows, inadequate ventilation, and outdated heating/cooling and ventilation systems which have created a breeding ground for harmful fungi and spore-producing molds such as Ochroconis, Cladosporium, and Chaetomium and that exposure to these molds constitute cruel and inhumane punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Make no mistake, the women in Women’s Huron Valley Correctional facility are suffering from mold exposure. In the lab reports of those women lucky enough to get an off-site medical diagnosis, ” MOLD” is clearly defined as the cause of their ailments.

Mold related symptoms include: constant headaches, nosebleeds, constant fatigue, breathing disorders, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, loss of appetite, weight loss, hair loss, skin rashes, open sores, short term memory loss, neurological disorders, swollen glands, chronic ear, sinus and bronchial infections, and pain in joints and muscles. Because of the substandard healthcare in this prison, women are not receiving the medical care necessary to address mold-related ailments.

On August 25th, 2023, federal judge Victoria A. Roberts for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan dismissed the lawsuit brought by the women prisoners. What should shock the conscience of every citizen in the State of Michigan is what the attorneys representing the Michigan Department of Corrections stated when they stood before the Court.

They said:

“There are no cases establishing a prisoner’s right to be free from these molds (Ochroconis, Cladosporium and Chaetomium), that it is not clearly established that any type of mold at WHV is sufficiently dangerous to incarcerated people, and EVEN IF IT WERE CLEARLY ESTABLISHED THAT CERTAIN MOLDS WERE DANGEROUS ENOUGH TO IMPLICATE THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT, IT IS NOT CLEARLY ESTABLISHED THAT PRISON OFFICIALS NEED TO TAKE ANY PARTICULAR ACTION TO REMEDIATE THE PRESENCE OF MOLD.“

The women imprisoned at Women’s Huron Valley are somebody’s loved ones. We have families and friends that worry about our health and safety. The Michigan Department of Corrections DOES NOT share that concern. In their arguments before the Court they expressed NO responsibility or accountability for the mold- contaminated facility women are forced to live in. In other words, women prisoners should just shut up and die a slow, painful death in here from their mold- related illnesses.

By ANY standard of decency, this treatment is inhumane. If you wouldn’t allow a dog to live in such deplorable conditions and suffer the health consequences, how can you in good conscience allow Michigan’s imprisoned women to live this way.

Please use your influence to bring public awareness to this issue.

Krystal Clark # 435064