Michigan Coronavirus: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against MDOC

MICHIGAN — A federal class action lawsuit on behalf of inmates inside Michigan prisons has been filed against the Michigan Department of Corrections, requesting a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction requiring the department to implement additional safety measures.

The complaint, filed in the Eastern District of Michigan, alleges violations of prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by exposing them to risk of illness and death from the coronavirus.

“When you put people in prison, you take away their ability to take care of themselves," said Kevin Ernst, one of the attorneys filing the suit, said in a statement. "If you take away that ability, you have to provide care for them.

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"Prisoners are not able to buy masks, soap, or isolate themselves. The state took that ability away from them and is now forcing them to be around COVID-positive inmates. The state has a duty to do something to protect them," Ernst continues.

The lawsuit claims prisoners are unable to practice social distancing in housing units where they are double-bunked or confined to units with multiple prisoners in "a pole-bark setting" or during mealtimes.

Telephones and kiosks are not disinfected between each use and prison staff have been seen without gloves and masks, contributing to the rapid spread of the virus within the prison system, the lawsuit alleges. Soap is still rationed prisoners are required to buy additional bars of soap when they run out of their allotment, the lawsuit states. However, many prisoners do not have the money to buy soap, and if they do, it can take several days to be delivered, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that policies put in place by the MDOC are inadequate and do not meet the CDC’s recommendations for correctional facilities.

“It is impossible for anyone who is incarcerated to practice what public health officials say is essential to slow the spread of the virus,” said Hannah Fielstra, another attorney in the lawsuit. “Keeping prisoners confined to these prisons with unsanitary practices and where conditions inherently create an atmosphere in which the virus can rapidly spread is a potential death sentence feared by those currently incarcerated.”

Michigan jails and prisons have been the subject of other lawsuits relating to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in April, Oakland County was sued by the ACLU, which cited unsafe conditions within the county jail.