ALGER COUNTY, Mich. – Several Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) employees could find themselves locked up in the very system they worked for.
Jonathan Lancaster was nearing the end of a 9-year state prison sentence for armed robbery, but instead of going home to his family, Lancaster died a horrible death in prison. Eight MDOC employees are facing serious criminal charges, but Lancaster’s sister said Michigan’s unusually cruel prison culture is also to blame.
Background: ‘I’m going to die in here’: Family pushes for change after Michigan prisoner left to die of dehydration
Six MDOC employees could be on trial for involuntary manslaughter and two for felony misconduct. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the prison employees’ actions, including the warden, led to Lancaster’s death in 2019.
For days, a judge listened to testimony about what happened behind bars.
Danielle Dunn said her brother had an altercation with another inmate and was moved to Alger County Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula, where he was put in indefinite solitary confinement.
His condition quickly deteriorated.
“Imagine a room the size of your bathroom, a small bathroom with no windows, concrete block walls, a door with a small slot where they can fit your tray through. And those spaces can also get up to 100 degrees in the summertime because they’re not air-conditioned,” Dunn said. “So imagine that with no stimulus. And guess what? Mental health breakdown, which is so common.”
Mentally broken, Lancaster stopped eating and drinking. He lost a quarter of his body weight. According to court testimony, he didn’t receive medical help but was strapped to a chair.
The Michigan State Police detective who investigated Lancaster’s death described in court his starved and withered condition.
“I just noticed that he was extremely skinny. That his hips were protruding,” said Detective Sgt. Jeff Marker. “And I could see his ribs. He had sunken eyes.”
According to the autopsy, Lancaster died of dehydration. The prison warden, assistant warden and several nurses have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
His sister believes that although neglect and abuse by prison employees caused her brother’s death, solitary confinement was a big contributing factor.
“The U.N. calls it sanctioned torture,” Dunn said. “Michigan sees it differently.”
Unlike some states, Michigan has no restrictions on the legal use of solitary confinement. That’s something Lancaster’s family wants to change.
“If you or I were to go into a solitary confinement cell today and be left there, even for just a short amount of time, we would begin to experience some of those things -- high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, audio and visual hallucinations. That’s common,” Dunn said. “We have over 2,400 people in Michigan today who are sitting in solitary confinement, ‘segregation cells,’ who are experiencing these things today without proper diagnosis, without proper medical health treatment.”
The Alger County judge is expected to announce on Monday, Sept. 25, whether six of the prison employee defendants will face a jury trial for involuntary manslaughter.
Dunn has a Facebook page that advocates for reform called Justice4Johnny.
She’s not the only one pushing for these changes. Open MI Door, an organization that aims to end solitary confinement in Michigan, sent the following list to Michigan DOC Director Heidi Washington in 2021.
