Yesterday, a grassroots group formed by families of people incarcerated in Michigan’s prison system announced a new campaign to end, or at least strictly limit, a practice defined as “psychological torture” by a United Nations expert last year: solitary confinement.
Citizens for Prison Reform (CRP) announced the campaign, called Open MI Door, with a new website, the release of a report about the impact of solitary confinement on family members of incarcerated people, and plans for a range of activities including further coalition-building, testimony at legislative hearings, Twitter “storms” and planting “solitary gardens” (gardens the size of the average solitary confinement cell) to get their concerns heard.
CPR has already put together a solid coalition of organizations behind the effort, many of which number among the who’s who of Michigan and national criminal justice reform organizations: the Detroit Justice Center, Friends of Restorative Justice of Washtenaw, and the Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice are among the groups on board, with Nation Outside, the American Friends Service Committee and the ACLU of Michigan among the members of the effort’s steering team.
The effort also has an ally in Democratic state Sen. Stephanie Chang. A longtime champion of criminal justice reform, Chang has introduced a bill to create a working group that would include advocates for incarcerated people to review and potentially severely restrict or end the use of solitary confinement.
Lois Pullano, the executive director of CPR, told Blue Tent that the coalition-building aspect of their work is going to continue.
“[We’re] really working to involve and create a coalition of solitary survivors in our community, as well as a coalition of families, and including public health organizations and faith-based communities to educate the general public,” she said.
One of the family members who is already involved, Danielle Dunn, had hoped to testify in front of a state Senate committee yesterday about the death of her brother, Jonathan Lancaster. Lancaster died of dehydration while held in solitary confinement after losing 53 pounds in 60 days. The committee limited her to submitting written testimony.
Solitary confinement is widespread in Michigan’s prisons
Dunn is far from alone. More than 3,000 people are currently being held in solitary confinement, also known as “segregation,” in Michigan—65% of whom are Black. People held in solitary spend more than 20 hours a day in a cell roughly the size of a parking space. Eleven percent of them have had “almost no human contact” from anywhere from five to 20 years.
Pullano said that the Open MI Door coalition would like to work with the Michigan Department of Corrections, as Pullano has heard the department already has a working group on segregation reform. They would also like to bring in the union representing Michigan’s correctional officers “because what we know is that solitary confinement and segregation impacts everyone.”
Family members of people held in solitary confinement report that their loved ones are frequently denied everything from food and necessary medical treatment to educational opportunities. Or, as an unnamed family member quoted in the Open MI Door said: “My son is treated like a dog. I have no idea how he has made it this far.”
Pullano said that a major focus of Open MI Door is going to be educating the public that the impact of solitary confinement spreads well beyond prison walls.
“Ninety-five to 98 percent of [people held in solitary confinement] are going to return back into our community. And if they’re only getting out of the cell two hours [a day] and there is no therapeutic programming, there are no life skills courses, they have no meaningful human interaction… how are they going to come back out and be successful?”
About Citizens for Prison Reform
Citizens for Prison Reform was founded in 2011 by Pullano (then Lois DeMott) when her minor son was held in solitary confinement and strapped to a gurney while incarcerated despite having a mental illness. The group is an example of the many grassroots organizations across the country formed by people who have been impacted by the criminal justice system, families and incarcerated people alike.
Pullano told Blue Tent that the way her son was treated opened her eyes, particularly to the ways that incarceration and solitary confinement separates incarcerated people from their families.
“I used to be a ‘You do the crime, you do the time’ thinker,” she explained. “I thought that people inside were getting exactly what they deserved. It took my own personal, very painful journey of becoming enmeshed in this system, and what I realized is that families were not being considered. They were walled off, they were excluded. They were not given the very basic information that they needed to be able to advocate, to be able to stand by their loved ones.”
In addition to Open MI Door, CPR has created an unofficial Family Advisory Board that meets quarterly with staff from the Michigan Department of Corrections. They have hosted “Family to Family” gatherings for loved ones of incarcerated people, and in 2014, they received funding for a pilot Family Participation Program at four state prisons. The original funding wasn’t renewed, but Pullano said that the Michigan Justice Fund provided money in 2020 to build the program. She also said that so far, the Open MI Door project is working with a budget of less than $50,000, mostly provided by the national Unlock the Box campaign.
While mostly volunteer-driven, they have been able to hire four part-time staff, including Pullano.
The group has also had some victories, including once convincing the Michigan Department of Corrections to ease up on some family visit restrictions during a period of overcrowding, and having MDOC officials speak at their meetings, in addition to the quarterly meetings with the Family Advisory Board.
The group has come a long way since media coverage about her son’s treatment while in prison made corrections officials “very angry.”
“The department was very angry, but you know what I have learned? What I have learned is we have to come to the table and work to bring change with all of those involved,” Pullano said.
