LANSING — Lawmakers on Nov. 12 approved $10 million to improve railing safety at two Jackson-area prisons where there have been five fatal inmate jumps or falls since 2020.
Both the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislative transfers that include the money for safety improvements at Charles E. Egeler Reception and Guidance Center and Parnall Correctional Facility — prisons where since January 2020 five inmates have died by either jumping over railings or falling over or under railings to plunge three or four levels.
The Detroit Free Press has documented the fatal falls — plus two nonfatal jumps or falls at the same prisons during the same time period — in a series of articles, using records obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act.
Under state law, votes by the full House and Senate chambers are not required to approve legislative transfers, meaning the Michigan Department of Corrections now has the required legislative approvals to proceed with the safety projects. At separate Nov. 12 meetings, the appropriations committees for the two chambers gave the MDOC the green light to transfer $10 million in surplus funds from MDOC “field operations,” which handles parole and probation, to “prison facilities,” in order to complete the work.
“It makes sense,” said Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee that approved the transfer.
Sen. Sue Shink, D-Northfield Township, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary, told the Free Press Nov. 12, after the committee votes, that improving the safety of the railings is important.
“It’s not acceptable to me that people would be going over the railings in a state-owned facility,” Shink said.
Asked why she thinks it has taken so long to address the issue, Shink said the prisons are old and have many needs and government often moves slowly. But she said she and other lawmakers have been working hard to get the railings fixed.
Jenni Riehle, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, did not respond to a Nov. 12 email seeking comment on how soon the work would be completed.
In April, a Michigan Senate committee approved $15 million for railing safety improvements at the two prisons, but the recommendation was cut from the final 2026 budget approved by lawmakers early in the morning of Oct. 3.
Since then, there was another nonfatal jump at Parnall — the seventh fatal or nonfatal falling or jumping incident since 2020 — on Oct. 22.
In August 2023, a prison employee complained to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office that gallery railings at the two prisons were too low, putting workers at risk of falling or being pushed to their deaths several floors below, records the Free Press obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act show.
Whitmer’s office referred the complaint, which also cited concerns about prisoner safety, to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration. But nothing changed. MIOSHA officials said the 38-inch-high railings did not meet current worker safety standards of 42 inches, plus or minus three inches, but were not subject to those standards because the two prisons were built before the standards were in place.
“No hazard exists,” a Michigan Department of Corrections official said in a Sept. 20, 2023, letter to a manager at MIOSHA. The agency closed its investigation less than three weeks later, without physically inspecting the two Jackson-area prisons, despite concerns raised by one MIOSHA official that improvements were needed, records show.
Since then, three more men have died by jumping or falling over or under the railings, and two others have been injured.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lawmakers approve $10M to improve prison railing safety after 5 fatal inmate jumps, falls
Reporting by Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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