Legislative Segregation Improvement List

Open MI Door: Requested MDOC Practice and Policy Changes
to Reduce Trauma and Harm in Isolation
This segregation improvement list was created and provided in March of 2021 for Director Washington upon
her request of improvements that could occur immediately. This list was compiled from stakeholders,
including insight from people currently and formerly living in segregation.
● Create a permanent Oversight Board/Task Force

○ Allow outside medical and mental health professionals access to visit prisons
● Require detailed data reporting quarterly with a breakdown of all restrictive housing units
○ To include race, hours in cell, programming offered, mental and medical history
● Require specialized officer and staff training throughout MDOC (CIT)
1. Provide effective programming and treatment for individuals with mental illness.
a. Document prior mental health history; prohibit anyone with a known diagnosis from being
placed in administrative segregation.
b. Those in mental health programs must have one hour outdoor time, in addition to therapy.
c. Create therapeutic spaces in all mental health units, allowing for increased time out of cell.
Utilize exercise, sensory integration, therapy dogs and de-escalation for a trauma-informed
approach. Therapy must be HIPPA compliant, not provided at the cell door.
d. Observation and all mental health unit cells need to be equipped with embedded video
screens where therapeutic, educational, exercise and other programming can be offered.
e. Loaner programs for TVs, or other items for indigent and vulnerable individuals
f. Provide access to tablets for all people in cell 20 or more hours a day
i. The majority of suggestions from people inside could be addressed by providing
opportunities for consistent family communication and meaningful programming. This
is evidence-based as used in other states like New York and Indiana. Without access
to these opportunities in isolation, extreme mental duress occurs.
ii. Tablets and closed circuit TV channel use would provide:
1. Phone and jpay
2. Programming, Apps for education, reentry information
3. Meditation, journaling, life-skills and self-help materials
4. Designated programming rooms for those who need close monitoring.
a. In-laid TVs with closed circuit TV programs.
5. Incentives via programming to work down in level and more time out of cell.
2. Provide humane and sanitary living conditions

a. Independent review of sanitation and conditions, especially during extreme heat. At Ionia, for
instance, all windows are sealed and food slots closed even with a heat index over 90. This
is torturous for people to live in 23 hours per day.
b. Allow people in segregation to utilize fans.
c. End “collective punishment,” which is group punishment for individual rule violations.
d. Create policy to keep food slots open with exception of extreme critical incidents.
e. Cease practice of denying showers as punishment.
3. Perform team-based reviews of everyone in segregation over six months.

a. Michigan is an outlier in terms of our length of stay in solitary confinement, with seg behavior
reviews often rubber-stamping more time. This could be mitigated by:
i. Immediate review of people held in segregation or the START program over 6 months.
Create individualized plans for them to be removed, including access to increased
mental and physical healthcare.
1. Seg reviews should involve a team of mental health professionals and staff.
2. Reviews need to be provided to the Director, Ombudsman and Disability Rights
Michigan.
3. An independent team of mental health professionals, advocates, and MDOC
administration to confer with those remaining in seg and develop a step-down plan
outside of current START programming, where some individuals have been held for
years.
4. Take swift and robust steps to prevent and respond to abuse.

a. Incarcerated people complain of egregious abuses which are mentally and physically
damaging with great frequency, especially at: Baraga, Chippewa, Alger, and Ionia
Correctional. Particular staff members are repeatedly reported and not held responsible.
i. Require all staff who enter seg units for any reason to wear properly functioning
body cameras to provide transparency and mitigate incident discrepancies.
ii. Require additional trauma training for officers who work in segregation units.
iii. Prohibit officers from working on seg units with a history of complaints or write-ups.
iv. Submit abuse complaints within seg units to an independent oversight committee.
v. Retrain officers with consistent write-ups or complaints. Investigate, track and discipline
acts of harm and abuse and hold those responsible accountable.
5. Improve access and foster connections with families

a. Notify appointed contact within 5 days when someone is sent to segregation, with consent of
the incarcerated person.
b. Provide a unit staff contact to communicate appropriately with appointed contact.
c. Allow weekly phone calls to approved contacts, even for people who are on LOP.
d. Permit therapy dogs on segregation units as part of a trauma-informed approach.
6. Provide adequate and nutritious food.

a. The most consistent complaint is hunger and weight loss, increasing since the pandemic.
i. Allow people in segregation to purchase commissary and receive Securepaks.
ii. Allow snack bags for people in segregation.
iii. Create staff oversight for meal delivery to seg units, ensuring delivery. While it is
against policy, it is frequently reported and proven by weight loss and deaths.
iv. Weigh people when they enter seg and every 15 days; record weight in medical file,
provide more food when weight drops significantly (20lbs or more)
7. Provide Full Review of Loss of Privileges Processes and Adjust Implementation

a. Policy states that Loss of Privileges (LOP) may include the removal of “one or more
privileges.” Incarcerated people and advocates assert that a person on LOP always loses all
of their privileges, not one or two or privileges related to the particular incident.
b. Address “stacked” LOP. Review and rectify the following questions:
i. What would be best to address the violation and be the least punitive?
ii. What was provided in terms of therapy, self-help, motivational interviewing, access to
service, etc., while they were on LOP?
iii. What is the meaningful plan and timeframe to earn back privileges?
Open MI Door campaign [email protected] openmidoor.org 269-986-2437

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Open MI Door: Requested MDOC Practice and Policy Changes

to Reduce Trauma and Harm in Isolation

● Create a permanent Oversight Board/Task Force

2. Provide humane and sanitary living conditions

3. Perform team-based reviews of everyone in segregation over six months.

4. Take swift and robust steps to prevent and respond to abuse.

5. Improve access and foster connections with families

6. Provide adequate and nutritious food.

7. Provide Full Review of Loss of Privileges Processes and Adjust Implementation

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