By Liz Nass
Gongwer News Service
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decided Michigan does not have governmental immunity in a case regarding safety conditions at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility.
In an opinion released last Thursday, the court ruled unanimously that a case could be brought against the Department of Corrections by the family of Krystal Clark, who previously was the topic of discussion in the House Oversight Committee on health conditions at the facility. Clark claimed she had mold growing in her ears, lungs, face and arms while being held at the facility. Clark filed a grievance about mold in 2016, but she didn’t get treatment until August 2025, and that treatment has not been consistent, she alleged.
The case is a motion for Clark, and other inmates, to call for Clark to be removed from the facility and claiming the department knew about the conditions and denied the inmates’ claims for years, even having the inmates work in vicinity of the mold.
The case says mold has been found in shower units, where it has been “especially extreme for more than five years, ‘visibly covering the walls, ceilings, and floors.’ It also grows in closets, sinks, toilets, hallways, air vents, and near windows.”
The complaint was first filed in 2019 by Clark, Paula Bailey, who has since been released, and Hope Zentz, who is on probation. The district court then also disagreed that the state had immunity.
An inmate committee wrote a letter to Corrections Director Heidi Washington and other leadership to air their grievances, to which Washington then argued the case should be dismissed on grounds of immunity.
The department has consistently denied the claims and said Clark’s allegations are not supported by facts known to the department and that Clark does not “experience any emergent medical conditions that warrants transfer from the facility.”
However, in the case, the defendants argued that “plaintiffs might have ‘experienced discomfort’ from the presence of mold in Huron Valley, but nothing rising to the level of an Eighth Amendment violation.”
The court, in a 2-1 decision, did dismiss five other defendants, some lower-level leadership, from the class-action lawsuit due to insufficient evidence that they could prove they knew about the mold. Washington will continue to be a defendant.
“The complaint unquestionably alleges that harmful mold proliferated throughout the facility and that each plaintiff suffered serious injuries as a result,” Judge Richard Griffin wrote in the opinion. “Further, as recounted above, the complaint alleges that these eight defendants knew of the pervasive mold in Huron Valley, either concealed the mold or refused to eradicate it, and, in many instances, received complaints about the mold’s harms. These allegations plausibly plead that conduct by each of these defendants was the most immediate, efficient, and direct cause of plaintiffs’ injuries.”
The concurrent opinion that disagrees with the dismissal of some leadership, written by Judge Ronald Gilman, said that “at this stage, one cannot reasonably expect plaintiffs to muster an array of unique, specific factual allegations when the case turns on each defendant’s alleged failure to have acted–an omission that applies to all of them.”
Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility has been a hot bed of controversy with multiple inmate deaths this year and allegations of sexual misconduct, health issues and infrastructure issues, as well as a report that women using wheelchairs were not getting proper medication or food due to a lack of staff. Washington has held that there is nothing to indicate safety issues at the facility.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson has said she would change leadership at the Department of Corrections.
Gongwer News Service
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decided Michigan does not have governmental immunity in a case regarding safety conditions at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility.
In an opinion released last Thursday, the court ruled unanimously that a case could be brought against the Department of Corrections by the family of Krystal Clark, who previously was the topic of discussion in the House Oversight Committee on health conditions at the facility. Clark claimed she had mold growing in her ears, lungs, face and arms while being held at the facility. Clark filed a grievance about mold in 2016, but she didn’t get treatment until August 2025, and that treatment has not been consistent, she alleged.
The case is a motion for Clark, and other inmates, to call for Clark to be removed from the facility and claiming the department knew about the conditions and denied the inmates’ claims for years, even having the inmates work in vicinity of the mold.
The case says mold has been found in shower units, where it has been “especially extreme for more than five years, ‘visibly covering the walls, ceilings, and floors.’ It also grows in closets, sinks, toilets, hallways, air vents, and near windows.”
The complaint was first filed in 2019 by Clark, Paula Bailey, who has since been released, and Hope Zentz, who is on probation. The district court then also disagreed that the state had immunity.
An inmate committee wrote a letter to Corrections Director Heidi Washington and other leadership to air their grievances, to which Washington then argued the case should be dismissed on grounds of immunity.
The department has consistently denied the claims and said Clark’s allegations are not supported by facts known to the department and that Clark does not “experience any emergent medical conditions that warrants transfer from the facility.”
However, in the case, the defendants argued that “plaintiffs might have ‘experienced discomfort’ from the presence of mold in Huron Valley, but nothing rising to the level of an Eighth Amendment violation.”
The court, in a 2-1 decision, did dismiss five other defendants, some lower-level leadership, from the class-action lawsuit due to insufficient evidence that they could prove they knew about the mold. Washington will continue to be a defendant.
“The complaint unquestionably alleges that harmful mold proliferated throughout the facility and that each plaintiff suffered serious injuries as a result,” Judge Richard Griffin wrote in the opinion. “Further, as recounted above, the complaint alleges that these eight defendants knew of the pervasive mold in Huron Valley, either concealed the mold or refused to eradicate it, and, in many instances, received complaints about the mold’s harms. These allegations plausibly plead that conduct by each of these defendants was the most immediate, efficient, and direct cause of plaintiffs’ injuries.”
The concurrent opinion that disagrees with the dismissal of some leadership, written by Judge Ronald Gilman, said that “at this stage, one cannot reasonably expect plaintiffs to muster an array of unique, specific factual allegations when the case turns on each defendant’s alleged failure to have acted–an omission that applies to all of them.”
Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility has been a hot bed of controversy with multiple inmate deaths this year and allegations of sexual misconduct, health issues and infrastructure issues, as well as a report that women using wheelchairs were not getting proper medication or food due to a lack of staff. Washington has held that there is nothing to indicate safety issues at the facility.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson has said she would change leadership at the Department of Corrections.
