ASKAngela Stanton King
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The Watch

One letter disappears.
A pattern doesn't.

When something is wrong inside a prison or jail, a single complaint dies in a file. The Watch files your report against the facility, so what happened to your person sits next to everything else reported there — and becomes something an investigator, a legislator, or a reporter can act on.

Looking to write a private account for yourself, or find out which office to contact? That's The Witness Log. The Watch is for building the record on a facility.

OPENWOMEN'S
HURON VALLEY
YPSILANTI MI

Facility under watch

Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility

Ypsilanti, Michigan · Michigan's only prison for women · approx. 1,800 held

  • Mold and ventilation litigation. Incarcerated women are suing the state over mold. In a June 2025 order, U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III allowed the case into discovery. Court record
  • Legislative oversight. The Michigan House Oversight Committee held a hearing on February 24, 2026 on mold, ventilation, medical care, and retaliation. Rep. Laurie Pohutsky presented testimony describing visible mold growing in the ear of Krystal Clark, who has raised mold concerns since 2016 and tested positive for multiple species of black mold in July 2023. Public hearing
  • Deaths in custody. Jennifer Wallace, 54, died of sepsis in November 2025 after an untreated tooth infection. Khaira Howard, 28, Rebecca Fackler, 57, and Ashley Hoath, 36, all died between mid-May and early June 2026. Dalephenia Jones, 62, died July 2, 2026. Reported deaths
  • Retaliation. Howard's mother says her daughter was made to clean mold with masks and gloves in retaliation for women speaking out about conditions. Allegation · family account
  • The state's position. MDOC launched a transparency site and released a MoldQuest International summary in June 2026 concluding airborne fungal conditions were within a normal range, while acknowledging localized mold on surface vents in cells, showers, and food service. Advocates dispute the finding. Agency statement
  • Calls for resignation. More than 30 state and federal lawmakers have called for MDOC Director Heidi Washington to resign. Rep. Debbie Dingell has sought answers on the mold claims. Reported

Read the full campaign & take action

If your report concerns this facility, it joins an existing record that already has a judge, a legislative committee, and a press corps attached to it. That is the difference between a letter and a pattern.

Read this before you file.
  • Do not fill this out from inside a facility. Prison email, tablet messaging, phone calls, and mail are monitored. People have faced retaliation for reporting conditions.
  • This is for people on the outside — family, someone released, staff, attorneys, volunteers, clergy.
  • File the facility's own grievance too, on time. Federal law requires a person in custody to exhaust the facility's internal grievance process before they can sue over conditions. This page does not satisfy that. Keep your date-stamped copy.
  • We cannot promise anonymity. Nothing here is encrypted end to end, and a report may have to be shared with an oversight body to do any good. You choose what to include.
  • Do not name the incarcerated person unless you have their permission or you are next of kin or their attorney. The report works without a name.
  • Describe conduct, not conclusions, when it comes to individual staff. Name the facility freely — it is a public institution. But write what you saw an officer do and when, rather than asserting what they are.

Where reports should go

The doors that actually open

  • Your state's protection and advocacy organization — federally authorized to investigate conditions affecting people with disabilities and serious medical needs, including inside prisons. In Michigan that is Disability Rights Michigan.
  • Your state legislator's district office. Oversight hearings usually start with one legislator holding one family's letter. Huron Valley is the proof.
  • U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division — the Special Litigation Section investigates patterns of unconstitutional conditions in state prisons and jails under CRIPA.
  • The ACLU National Prison Project or your state ACLU affiliate.
  • The state corrections ombudsman or inspector general, where your state has one.
  • Local press. Reporters move faster than agencies, and agencies move faster once reporters do.