The Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility Needs to be Shut Down

Why do inmates keep dying at Michigan’s only women’s prison? The Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV) has been the subject of a lot of public scrutiny this year. In the past two months, four women held in the facility have died from mysterious health complications. 28 year old inmate Khaira Howard was two weeks away from being paroled when Nurse Secrist was called to Howard’s cell to find her lying on the floor next to the toilet complaining of chest pains. Howard became unresponsive and Secrist called for assistance. After a failed attempt to resuscitate Howard, she was pronounced dead at 10:14 PM on May 13.

The autopsy report released by Michigan Medicine Pathology and Clinical Laboratories stated that Howard died of a blood clot that was blocking the flow of blood to her lungs. Howard had been in the prison infirmary for the past week complaining of pain in her foot. She was the first of the four women to die in the facility since May, and as of this writing, her autopsy is the only one that has been released to the public. The other autopsies are expected to be released, and it’ll be difficult to draw conclusions on whether or not these deaths have a common cause or are related to the conditions of the prison until we get the other reports.

So what the hell is going on? Well, we could point to longstanding allegations that there’s black mold growing in the facility. The allegations were the subject of a 2019 class action lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) that was dismissed in 2023. The complaint was amended and refiled to outline what the plaintiffs described as unsanitary living conditions that were contributing to a myriad of health problems for inmates. Part of the amended complaint claimed that the HVAC system in the facility is 43 years old and badly needs to be replaced. The MDOC brought in a third party environmental tester called Mold Quest International and released a report on June 12 stating that they had found no evidence that unsafe levels of black mold were present in WHV.

But this assertion is immediately undercut when you look at the case of Krystal Clark, a 42 year old inmate who has recently been transferred to the Duane Waters Health Center for medical treatment related to respiratory issues and hearing loss which she and her advocates allege is connected to her exposure to black mold in the WHV. Clark is severely allergic to black mold and a Department of Corrections lab report has confirmed through clinical testing that Aspergillus mold is growing in Clark’s ears. Recent photos of Clark show that one side of her face is slumped.

WHV and the MDOC dispute these claims and insist that she is receiving proper medical care, but given the recent deaths that have occurred in the facility, a state level investigation may be warranted to clear all of this up. The contention of WHV seems to be that they’ve brought in a third party environmental tester that cleared them of any negligence on their part. Correction officials have insisted up until this point that Clark is not suffering any kind of serious medical emergency. Even if what they say is true, it doesn’t account for the recent string of deaths that have taken place in the prison. What kind of accountability is there for WHV if Krystal Clark has her medical concerns brushed to the side by the MDOC and dies anyway? Time is of the essence for Clark, as well as other inmates of WHV. Exposure to these kinds of dangerous molds and allergens can have irreversible health effects.

Advocates have called on Governor Gretchen Whitmer to grant medical clemency for Clark, who is eligible for parole in May of 2027. Clark was sentenced to 17 to 30 years for armed robbery in 2011, but the punishment for such a crime is not and should not be death.

It’s time for the state to allow a full and comprehensive third party investigation into the conditions of the HVC, not just for the alleged black mold. Four deaths in two months is more than enough reason to fully look into Krystal Clark’s situation and determine if her illness is connected to her living conditions. If what she’s saying is true, then a medical clemency from the Governor is the bare minimum. Ideally, the MDOC should be legally compelled to do a full overhaul of the HVC to stop inmates from dying, and if they are unable or unwilling to do so, the facility should be shut down for good.