When will we shout, “Enough is enough?”

Imagine giving birth in a hospital bed with two state corrections officers—including a man—standing over you, their chest-mounted body cameras recording your active labor, intimate medical exams, and the first moments you breastfeed your newborn son. 

I've just finished reading Detroit Free Press writer Paul Egan’s story about a federal civil rights lawsuit filed on October 12 by Natalie Forrest, a former minimum-security inmate at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV). The complaint alleges that guards kept their body cameras rolling during her delivery, despite prison leadership being warned in writing just days earlier that filming undressed women is a felony. To make matters worse, guards allegedly threatened Forrest’s mother with two additional years of prison time for her daughter if she dared to snap a photo of her newborn grandson! 

Our supporters know that we’ve been concerned about the way the State of Michigan treats women in prison since the day HFP was founded, 25 years ago. And it never seems to get any better! Those residents of WHV know it, as well. I’ve made numerous guest appearances there in my younger days. We have a fine relationship with those women. 

Back to our subject for the day: Over the past two years, the legal complaints against the facility have reached a fever pitch. 

-20 anonymous inmates filed a $500 million lawsuit alleging that guards used body cameras to illegally record hundreds of naked strip searches, showers, and restroom usage;

-A corrections officer was criminally charged with multiple counts of sexual misconduct against prisoners;

 -severe healthcare delays and medical neglect culminated in a tragic spike of inmate fatalities, including three women who died in less than a single month; and

-inmates have been forced to file emergency motions just to be transferred away from toxic black mold that is causing severe neurological symptoms like facial drooping. 

Come on!.

As I’m writing this piece my thoughts go back many years when I was still running HFP. A brave group of whistleblowers inside WHV began sneaking desperate complaints to me through the mail. Some were written on tiny, folded scraps of paper. We shared those scraps of paper with the ACLU of Michigan, and the undeniable proof forced a U.S. Department of Justice investigation a decade ago. 

Yet, the beat goes on! The culture of abuse has simply evolved from naked hog-tying to things like high-tech digital violations. 

How many more complaints must be added to this shameful list? How many more mothers must be recorded during childbirth? How many more women must die of untreated illnesses? 

Perhaps if you contact your state legislator and shout, "Enough is enough,” something will happen. 

Some 2,000 women are praying for that day. 

“Every woman deserves a second chance—a chance to learn, grow, and bloom, no matter where she is... we believe that a prison sentence should never be a life sentence to poverty, shame, or hopelessness.”---Abounding Grace Foundation

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