Emergency Action: Sunday, January 16th, at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility at 12pm

Emergency Action, Sunday, January 16th, at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, at 12pm. It’s located at 3201 Bemis Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48197.Conditions at Michigan’s one prison for women have been problematic long before COVID. Overcrowding, lack of access to mental health and adequate medical services, lack of programming, major staffing shortages which lead to fatigue and outright abuse, antiquated buildings, sewage & heating and cooling systems, and more have plagued Women’s Huron Valley for years.

You can sign the petition to Address Inhumane & Dangerous Conditions at Huron Valley Women’s Prison to Governor Whitmer and MDOC Director Heidi Washington here.

COVID 19 has exacerbated existing problems at the Valley. A recent memo from Sen. Jeff Irwin, reporting from Prison Radio, and accounts from women held at the facility document reduced access to yard time and rehabilitation programs, overcrowding, lack of access to cleaning and sanitary items, and inadequate COVID protections. These conditions have led to a COVID surge at Huron Valley. According to the Detroit Free Press, the facility “constitutes 60% of all known cases [of COVID] among the incarcerated in the state.”This dangerous conditions at the prison require immediate action to address the crisis as well as long-term changes to improve oversight, remedy inhumane conditions, and release women who could safely return to their communities.

Sponsored by:
• American Friends Service Committee Michigan Criminal Justice Program
• Emergent Justice
• Huron Valley DSA
• Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice
• Just Us NOW
• Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration
• Michigan Liberation
• Nation Outside
• Prison Radio
• Southeast MI Pull Over Prevention
• Redeeming Kimberly
• Silent Cry
• Survivors Speak