I never should have been in prison. I was innocent, yet I was locked inside Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility for a crime I did not commit. I lost years of my life before the truth finally emerged and I was exonerated.
Today, I write on behalf of the women I left behind. I write not only as an innocent woman who survived Michigan’s prison system, but as part of the Organization of Exonerees, a nonprofit led by fellow exonerees who share my deep concern about Huron Valley prison conditions. We know the consequences of institutional failures because we have lived through them.
That is why I cannot look away from the deaths of five women at the prison. My innocence was not the reason I deserved dignity; all incarcerated people deserve the dignity of health and safety.
Khaira Howard, Rebecca Fackler, Ashley Hoath, Dalephenia Jones and Dasie Forbes are not simply names in a news story or statistics. They are five women whose families expected them to come home.
I cannot read their names without imagining myself among them. I lived in the cells they lived and died in. I remember vividly how black mold crept across walls and ceilings. Water leaked. Medical care often came too late or not at all. Over time, women learned to suppress their expectation of being treated with humanity, but adaptation should never be confused with acceptable conditions. The difference between the women who died there and me is that I survived long enough to tell the story.
My wrongful conviction taught me that when the government exercises extraordinary power over human beings, the consequences of error can be irreversible.
The state does not become less responsible for someone’s life simply because that person has been convicted of a crime. In fact, incarceration increases the government’s responsibility. When the state takes away someone’s freedom, it also takes away her ability to protect herself, seek medical care, change her surroundings or simply walk away from danger. Prison should never become a death sentence.
At the Organization of Exonerees, we are living proof that the justice system can get everything catastrophically wrong. Our experiences have taught us that accountability cannot depend on government institutions investigating themselves after public outcry. When incarcerated women, correctional staff, families, journalists, legislators and formerly incarcerated people raise concerns about conditions year after year, Michigan cannot simply dismiss five deaths as a collection of unrelated incidents. This problem is systemic.
The deaths of these women should leave the people of Michigan with questions about what their government owes to those it confines. Public safety should not end at the prison gate. The question is no longer whether Michigan knows enough to act. It does.
These deaths require more than condolences. Michigan must conduct an independent investigation into the deaths of these five women and the conditions at Huron Valley. Please use your voice to demand transparency about what happened, whether warning signs were ignored and whether policies or practices contributed to their deaths. There must be meaningful accountability and a commitment to change these unsafe conditions.
I survived being innocent in a system that refused to believe me, and I was fortunate enough to walk out of those prison walls. Khaira Howard, Rebecca Fackler, Ashley Hoath, Dalephenia Jones and Dasie Forbes did not get that chance.
Today is an opportunity to prevent another family from receiving the call that their loved one has died and to declare that incarcerated women are worthy of dignity, safety and life.
Crystal Mulherin was exonerated in 2024 after being convicted for a shooting she did not commit. She is now part of the Organization of Exonerees.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: I survived Huron Valley. Michigan must answer for the women who didn’t. | Opinion
Reporting by Crystal Mulherin / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Crystal Mulherin | USA TODAY Network
