LANSING — A Michigan inmate who was repeatedly stabbed while in protective custody after providing information about prison drug smuggling can sue the corrections officer who left his cell door open just prior to the assault, a federal appeals court has ruled.
Robert Houghtaling was an inmate at Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon Heights in 2021 when another inmate who was a reputed gang member burst through the open door of his protective custody cell and stabbed him more than 20 times with a homemade knife, according to court records.
Houghtaling had been moved to protective custody after providing information about Michigan Department of Corrections employees smuggling drugs into the prison and learning that a prison gang had placed a “hit” on him, according to his lawsuit and other documents filed in the case.
Houghtaling, who is now 45 and was released on parole this month, testified in a deposition that Corrections Officer Justin Siwanowicz had told him she wished he was not in protective custody so he could get what was coming to him. Two other inmates said in affidavits filed in the case they heard Siwanowicz say something similar to Houghtaling.
Houghtaling also alleges he asked Siwanowicz to close and lock his cell door just prior to the attack, but she refused and walked away.
Siwanowicz testified in a deposition that all three prisoners were lying, but acknowledged she made a mistake when she left the door to Houghtaling’s cell open, court records show. Reached by telephone July 21, Siwanowicz said she no longer works for the MDOC and she had no comment on the ruling.
Houghtaling sued in 2024, alleging violation of his 8th Amendment rights to protection, as well as gross negligence.
In December, U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney in Kalamazoo dismissed Houghtaling’s lawsuit, agreeing with a U.S. magistrate judge that the stabbing was most likely a random attack unrelated to Houghtaling’s request for protection.
But in a July 17 opinion, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals saw the case differently and sent it back to Maloney for further proceedings.
“Even if (the) attack was unrelated to the threats Houghtaling received, which Houghtaling disputes, Houghtaling does not need to show that Siwanowicz knew he was likely to be assaulted by the specific prisoner who eventually committed the assault,” Circuit Judge Kevin Ritz wrote.
“It is enough that Siwanowicz knew that failure to secure Houghtaling in protective custody exposed him to a substantial risk of harm.”
Michael Jones, a Detroit attorney representing Houghtaling, said in a July 21 email the ruling is significant.
“For prisoners who report threats or cooperate with prison staff, the decision reinforces a basic principle: protective custody must actually protect,” Jones said.
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which represented Siwanowicz, did not immediately respond to a July 21 request for comment.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Inmate who survived stabbing can sue over open cell door, court rules
Reporting by Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
