By Paul Egan
Detroit Free Press
LANSING — An Ann Arbor attorney has brought a class-action lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections, alleging the department and its officials have subjected male prisoners younger than 18 to sexual, physical and emotion abuse by unlawfully housing them with adult inmates.
Attorney Deborah LaBelle, who in 2009 won a $100-million settlement on behalf of more than 500 female Michigan prisoners who said they were sexually abused by corrections officers, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Tuesday.
Plaintiffs in the suit are seven unnamed “John Doe” prisoners who allege they were sexually and physically assaulted or harassed while housed in the Michigan prison system.
But in seeking to certify the lawsuit as a class action, LaBelle says it is filed on behalf of “at least 500 children” between the ages of 14 and 17 who have been housed in Michigan prisons for a year or more in the last three years.
Named as defendants are the Department of Corrections; Gov. Rick Snyder, department Director Dan Heyns, three of his current or former top officials, and 11 wardens.
“Defendants’ policy and practice of housing youthful and adult prisoners together without taking adequate steps to protect youth from a known harm constitutes deliberate indifference to their safety,” the suit alleges.
A department spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment this morning.
The federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, enacted about 10 years ago, requires state prisons to keep prisoners younger than 18 separated from adult prisoners, the suit alleges.
A footnote in the lawsuit says LaBelle has learned that in recent weeks the department began separating prisoners 17 and younger in some adult prisons. However, “the extent and scope of these efforts throughout the MDOC system are unclear,” the lawsuit says.
Each of the “John Does,” two of whom are still minors housed with adults, allege specific incidents of rape, beatings, or harassment. In some cases, they allege prison officials were aware they were being raped in their cells but did nothing to stop the assaults. In other incidents, they allege, female corrections officers sexually harassed them or groped them during searches.
Mel Grieshaber, executive director of the Michigan Corrections Organization, the union representing about 7,000 corrections officers, said he was not aware of the allegations before today. He said he is skeptical about the allegations, given the number of cameras and other monitoring that exists inside Michigan prisons.
“I think overall we’ve got the best and highest-trained corrections officers in the country,” Grieshaber said.
“Is there a rotten apple somewhere? Probably. I know there are 43,000 bad guys in there thinking every day of ways to beat the system.”