LANSING — A state lawmaker is calling for an investigation by the attorney general and removal of the director of the Michigan Department of Corrections after a 28-year old inmate who had reached out to her office died May 13 at Michigan’s state prison for women.
Khaira Howard, a Detroit resident who was scheduled to be released on parole May 27, died at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility near Ypsilanti May 13, Corrections Department spokeswoman Jenni Riehle confirmed in a May 14 email to the Detroit Free Press. The cause of Howard’s death is under investigation, but “it appears to be related to an unexpected personal health emergency,” Riehle said.
State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, who was a key lawmaker organizing a Feb. 24 House Oversight Committee hearing on conditions at the women’s prison, said May 14 that Howard is one of the women who reached out to her office and expressed concern about being directed to clean up toxic mold at the prison without being provided with proper personal protective equipment.
“Now she is dead,” said Pohutsky. “It is unacceptable,” as are the conditions under which women at the prison are forced to live, she said.
Pohutsky called on Attorney General Dana Nessel to investigate Howard’s death, in addition to whatever other investigations are required by law.
She said she also wants Heidi Washington, the MDOC director since 2015, to resign or be fired by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Pohutsky said that at legislative hearings Washington has repeatedly denied or downplayed problems with mold, inadequate health care, and other living conditions at the prison and has been generally unresponsive to Pohutsky’s attempts to communicate with her.
Pohutsky said prison officials should be required to publicly report prison deaths, which is not the case currently.
MDOC officials have denied that toxic mold, which is the subject of an ongoing federal lawsuit, is a problem at the women’s prison.
Riehle had no immediate response to Pohutsky’s call for Washington’s removal. The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to Pohutsky’s call for an investigation.
A family member of Howard’s could not immediately be reached May 14.
Sharee Miller, a Women’s Huron Valley inmate who in 2019 won a court fight to allow prisoner observation aides to report prison mistreatment and abuse to a government oversight agency or state-designated protection and advocacy organization, told the Free Press May 14 she did not know Howard personally but knew that she had been under medical observation and complaining of chest pains for months.
Miller said she will be contacting the U.S. Department of Justice about Howard’s death because she has been told there were significant delays in both initial response and then bringing a defibrillator after prison observation aides found Howard unresponsive on the night of May 13.
Miller said a lack of empathy and an unwillingness to take inmates’ health complaints seriously has been a longstanding problem at the women’s prison, which has also had a history of overcrowding, violence, rampant illicit drug availability, and leaky roofs.
Tiffany Walker, family program director with Citizens for Prison Reform, said Howard had reached out to her group to share concerns about conditions at the women’s prison.
“Khaira spoke not only about her own health concerns, but also about broader concerns impacting other incarcerated women, concerns over mold exposure, ventilation issues, food quality, sanitation, delays in medical care, and working conditions inside the facility,” Walker said.
“She was also vocal about concerns surrounding dignity, safety, and the overall treatment of incarcerated women.”
Walker said she hopes “there will be transparency and accountability surrounding the circumstances of Khaira Howard’s death, and we are keeping all those impacted in our thoughts during this difficult time.”
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Woman who complained to lawmaker about prison mold dies suddenly at 28
Reporting by Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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