Michigan corrections department declined to investigate fifth death this year at Women's Huron Valley prison

On July 31, 2026, family members and advocates rallied outside Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) headquarters and the state Capitol in Lansing to demand an independent investigation and reform after five women died at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan's only women's prison, since mid-May 2026. The most recent death, of Dasie Forbes, was classified by MDOC as "expected" because Forbes had entered palliative care for chronic illness in February 2026; the department declined to investigate her death on that basis, and the county medical examiner declined to conduct an autopsy.

MDOC spokesperson Jennie Riehle distinguished Forbes's death from the "unexpected" deaths of other women at the facility this year, including Ashley Hoath (ruled a suicide by the county medical examiner in June 2026) and Khaira Howard, who died days before a scheduled parole release. MDOC's internal affairs division has separately been investigating three of the earlier 2026 deaths -- Rebecca Fackler, Howard, and Hoath -- reviewing whether staff followed policy in the period before each death, but applied no comparable review to Forbes's death. MDOC says the facility averaged five to six deaths per year from 2022 through 2025; it has recorded five deaths in under three months in 2026.

Separately, attorneys for Krystal Clark, incarcerated at the facility, filed an emergency motion alleging she developed mold-related medical deterioration -- including visible mold in her hair and ears, facial droop, and severe swelling -- conditions also described at a February 2026 Michigan House Oversight Committee hearing. MDOC disputed the allegations, citing a private contractor's environmental test that found no dangerous mold levels at the facility, but transferred Clark to an outside health center after the motion was filed. Organizers, led by the Washtenaw General Defense Committee, demanded Clark's release and the release of other severely ill and medically frail women from the facility.