Michigan corrections officer altered Native American prisoner's ID with racist caricature, posted it publicly for humiliation, lawsuit alleges

On August 17, 2026, Michigan Advance reported that a corrections officer at Newberry Correctional Facility in Michigan's Upper Peninsula digitally altered a Native American prisoner's identification card to depict him wearing a feathered headdress, stereotypical Indigenous attire, and facial paint, then posted the altered image publicly -- including on the window of the prisoner's housing unit, visible to other prisoners and staff. The prisoner, Dylan Leenheer, a member of the Gun Lake Tribe, is suing the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) and three individual employees in Michigan state court under the state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act; the lawsuit was filed in early August 2026, and the underlying alteration date is not established by current reporting.

The lawsuit identifies corrections officer Jay Stevens as the ID's issuer -- an image of the card in the filing names him -- and alleges corrections officer Robert Marsh was present when it was created. Library technician JoLynn Cebula allegedly refused to photocopy the altered ID for Leenheer's grievance, laughing and calling it "funny." Leenheer's attorney, Maura Battersby of Flood Law, said the officers have faced no known internal discipline, and that the image was posted in multiple places with Stevens "taking credit for it."

The lawsuit alleges MDOC had "institutional knowledge of, and failure to prevent or remedy, a broader pattern of similar misconduct" at Newberry, including two other prisoners -- one Black, one of "Indian-national-origin" -- whose ID photos were altered with other racial connotations, and sworn declarations that Stevens made derogatory statements about Native American prisoners before. Leenheer filed a grievance on May 22, 2026, not formally received by MDOC until June 24; in the interim he submitted six unanswered urgent mental-health-care requests and was placed on a loss-of-privileges sanction denying him sunlight and phone contact with family, despite a record listing him "misconduct free." MDOC told Michigan Advance all discrimination complaints are investigated, declining further comment due to pending litigation. Battersby said the pattern raised safety concerns given only three Native American prisoners were housed in the unit; this entry is dated to first public reporting because the underlying alteration date is not established by current sourcing.