Michigan News

Victory! Sexually abusive searches of female prisoners abandoned

This week, with the help of our supporters and a coalition of civil and human rights organizations, we've confirmed that the Michigan Department of Corrections has ended a routine and extraordinarily degrading body cavity search for female prisoners.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Michigan confirmed today that the Michigan Department of Corrections has abandoned the routine implementation of a degrading body cavity search in which prisoners at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV) were forced to spread open their labia using their hands, often under unsanitary conditions and sometimes in full view of other prisoners.

Update 4/12/12: VICTORY! With your help, we've confirmed that the Michigan Department of Corrections has abandoned the routine implementation of this degrading body cavity search.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Michigan are calling on the Michigan Department of Corrections to abandon a degrading body cavity search in which prisoners at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV) are forced to spread open their labia using their hands, often under unsanitary conditions and in full view of other prisoners.

Matthew Bentley was 14 years old in 1997 when he broke into a house he thought was unoccupied. While rummaging for valuables, he was confronted by the owner. Matthew shot and killed her with a gun he found in the house.

Luis L. is a lawful permanent resident from the Dominican Republic. As a young child, he moved with his family to Florida, where I interviewed him for a report by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch. Luis developed schizophrenia as a teenager, prompting trouble with the law. But fortunately, the judge presiding over Luis's criminal case recognized that Luis' behavior was connected to his disability and sent him to get mental health treatment.

Our justice system should be a place where freedom has no price and equality prevails. Sometimes reality falls short of these lofty goals, and it's often the most vulnerable who pay the price. This week we've been working hard to guarantee justice for all, representing five people thrown in jail simply for being poor. And they're not the only ones...

In a decision issued today, a federal judge has allowed a lawsuit challenging Michigan’s juvenile life without parole sentences to proceed. Today’s ruling allows the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Michigan to prove that Michigan’s sentencing scheme that denies children a meaningful opportunity for parole constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and violates their constitutional rights.

Broken laws, broken lives, and a broken system. In this week's Rights Review, we hear what the former Mayor of Detroit thinks of our work. Also, are you mad about Michigan's law allowing discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity? 

Michigan News

Broken Lives and a Broken System

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Michigan were in federal court today for arguments in a lawsuit on behalf of nine Michigan individuals who were sentenced to life in prison for crimes committed when they were minors and who are being denied the possibility of parole.

The U.S. is the only country in the world that sentences youth to life sentences without parole. Currently, there are 350 individuals in Michigan serving mandatory life sentences they received as minors, including more than 100 individuals who did not commit a homicide.

Each week, we run down the hot civil liberties stories in your Weekly Rights Review.

This week we cover counseling for LGBT high school students, the difference between a jail cell and a motel room, and the eternal question: who polices the police?