One Hundred and TwenTy Five years OF ediTOrial FreedOm
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Ann Arbor, MI

Weekly Summer Edition
MichiganDaily.com

INDEX

Vol. CXXVI, No. 118| © 2016 The Michigan Daily 
michigandaily.com

NEWS ....................................
OPINION ............................... 
ARTS ......................................
CLASSIFIEDS.........................
SUDOKU................................
SPORTS................................10

NEWS
State Senate sees 
transgender bill

Democrats react in opposition 

to controversial legislation

>> SEE PAGE 3

NEWS
‘U’ holds Warrior-
Scholar Project

Veterans make transition 

to higher education

>> SEE PAGE 

OPINION
Why you should 
consider a Ph.D 
A Ph.D. means a better 
understanding of our 
world

>> SEE PAGE 4

ARTS

Stars shine at 
Boston Calling

New England music festival 

gathers artists of many 

different genres

>> SEE PAGE 7

SPORTS
Wolverines travel 
to Oklahoma City

Michigan takes on LSU in 

the College World Series

>> SEE PAGE 10

inside

2
4
6
8
2

Overcrowding and 
underfunding lead 
to mental health 
issues in inmates 

By RIYAH BASHA

Daily Summer News Editor

On the night she hung herself, 

Janika Edmond asked her guards 
at the Huron Valley Correctional 
Facility for a suicide prevention 
vest, according to her family’s 
attorney David Steingold.

Edmond was 25 years old and 

was nearly finished serving time 
for violating parole following 
past 
convictions 
of 
assault, 

breaking 
and 
entering 
and 

resisting police officers. Records 
from the Michigan Department 
of Corrections (MDOC) and 
Steingold show Edmond spent 
her sentence dealing with clinical 
depression, bipolar disorder and 
suicidal thoughts, all of which 
were the aftermath of a deluge 
of 
emotional 
and 
financial 

problems she experienced as a 
child.

Steingold went on to detail 

Edmond’s request on Nov. 2, 2015, 
for the suicide prevention vest — 

a bulky smock with straps known 
as a Bam Bam suit — and prison 
guards’ 
dismissive 
reactions. 

He even referenced a bet placed 
by prison staff members on the 
likelihood of Edmond’s success 
in receiving a vest.

Just 20 minutes later, Edmond 

was found hanging in a shower 
area with pieces of underwear 
tied around her neck. Washtenaw 
County vital records confirm she 
was pronounced dead at a nearby 
hospital four days later on Nov. 6. 

Steingold said though he is 

not able to comment on the exact 
details of Edmond’s death, its 
causes are clear.

“Her death was occasioned 

by improper action of the prison 
and its employees,” he said. 

Two 
corrections 
officers 

were fired over the incident 
this March, and as Steingold 
gathers evidence in preparation 
for a lawsuit against MDOC, 
the Michigan State Police is still 
conducting an investigation into 
the death, which has not yet been 
officially declared a suicide. 
Edmond, however, was just one 
of 33 suicide attempts at Huron 
Valley in the last year alone, and 
she was just one of 2,287 women 
packed inside the facility, which 
is set to receive more offenders 

despite the fact that it’s already 
more than 100 inmates above 
capacity. 

This year alone, the prison 

has been in the news for stories 
such as women being housed 
in converted break rooms and 
offices, rationing sanitary pads 
and a double amputee inmate 
forced to crawl to shower areas. 
Though 
Edmond’s 
end 
may 

have been exceptional, many 
claim her experiences suggest 
common, endemic problems of 
overcrowding and inadequate 
inmate 
resources 
at 
Huron 

Valley.

Lack of Resources
MDOC 
spokesman 
Chris 

Gautz emphasized that prison 
officials are working to alleviate 
issues of overcrowding. Since 
a November Detroit Free Press 
article exposed the prison for 
housing women in offices and 
TV rooms, Gautz said officials at 
Huron Valley have devoted more 
time to carving out space for 
more inmates.

“We’re dealing with the space 

we have available at Women’s 
Huron Valley,” Gautz said. “We 
had to, in some housing units, 
convert 
areas 
that 
weren’t 

traditionally cells, and we’ve 
been able to take a few of those 

offline. We also created a new 
housing unit in a newer area of 
the facility that had about 90 
beds. It’s a situation we continue 
to monitor daily.”

Many critics are still not 

satisfied. Birmingham attorney 
Lynn Shecter, on behalf of 
three Huron Valley inmates, 
sued the state in a class action 
suit in April on claims that the 
overcrowding violated inmates’ 
basic constitutional right against 
cruel and unusual punishment. 
The suit, still under preliminary 
consideration by state courts, 
alleges the three inmates spent 
up to 23 hours with multiple 
cell partners in confined spaces. 
Shecter emphasized that her 
clients’ 
experiences 
are 
not 

isolated. 

“We 
keep 
hearing 
the 

same story again and again,” 
Shecter 
said. 
“When 
we 

distributed a survey to find out 
if (overcrowding) is a universal 
problem at Huron Valley, we 
discovered it is. And this has 
an effect on the mental health 
and attempts to rehabilitate 
prisoners.”

Huron Valley’s population has 

jumped by more than 17 percent 
in the last five years, though the 

2

454

43.9%
41.9%
14.2%

1,151

36
1

ND HIGHEST NUMBER OF 

EMERGENCY ROOM 
VISITS IN MICHIGAN

inmaTes On waiTing 

lisT FOr ged prOgrams

crime type of all michigan inmates

nOn-assaulTive
assaulTive
drug regulaTed

inmaTes On waiTing lisT 

FOr vOcaTiOnal prOgrams

Infographic by: Anjali Alangaden

suicide aTTempTs
suicide
1,884
1,952
2,010
2,287

582
624
581
544

TitleTitleTitleTitleTitleTitleTitleTitle

Prison 
Staff

Prison 
Population

2011
2012
2013
2014

Number of Inmates

Number of Employees

See PRISON, Page 9

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/corrections/MDOC_2014_Statistical_

Report_-_2015.07.02_493514_7.pdf

Echoes of statewide prison woes 
at Huron Valley women’s facility

