In Michigan, there is one prison for women – the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility – and it is near my house. I don’t drive in that direction very often, but lately I’ve been passing it more frequently.
About six months ago, I decided to create a Google alert for this prison so I would receive updates about it. Too often, people near us are experiencing horrific situations that remain out of view.
It turns out that the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility has been in the news quite a bit recently. My Google alerts have been pinging.
People have been testifying before the state legislature about mold that has run rampant for years, creating serious health problems for the women who live there. And recently, Disability Rights Michigan, an organization I admire so much, issued a report finding that, for years, women in this prison who need attendants to push their wheelchairs have been missing, on average, about half of their meals, along with a majority of doses of prescription medications for seizures, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
The report also shares:
“‘We have diabetics that at times go too low [on their blood sugar], those who have seizures,’ one wheelchair user told Disability Rights Michigan. ‘If someone feels they are not able to walk that far [to the cafeteria], they go without eating.’”
If we don’t look intentionally – individually, yes, but more importantly, collectively – we will miss what systems are determined to hide.
A reminder to keep looking.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 