A bipartisan legislative package aims to expand the power of Michigan’s prison watchdog agency, the Legislative Corrections Ombudsman, following a wave of complaints regarding safety and living conditions inside state correctional facilities.
House Bills 5920 and 5921 would broaden the authority of the ombudsman, an office that serves as the legislature's monitor of the state prison system.
Right now, the office is only legal required to accept complaints that come directly from state legislators or incarcerated individuals. The proposed legislation would expand that access, allowing prison staff and inmates' families to formally register complaints and trigger independent investigations.
Additionally, the bills would force the Michigan Department of Corrections to hand over medical records needed to investigate inmate deaths, bypassing the need for specialized release forms.
State Representative Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia), a cosponsor of the legislation, says the bills are designed to give the oversight office the enforcement tools it currently lacks.
"For what I think are becoming increasingly obvious reasons, there's a lot of skepticism that people have regarding those third-party reports that the department has helped facilitate," Pohutsky said.
Four Michigan inmates recently died in the span of a month.
If the bills become law, the watchdog agency would have the legal authority to bring independent, third-party experts into prisons to assess conditions.
According to Pohutsky, this could include independent environmental experts to investigate allegations of toxic mold, or outside medical professionals to evaluate the quality of prison healthcare.
Pohutsky said that would lead to "meaningful corrective actions."
The legislation faces its first major hurdle in the House Judiciary Committee, where the bills are currently sitting and awaiting a vote to advance to the full House floor. Because the bills are "tie-barred," both must pass simultaneously to become law.
