It is the height of irony.
In the Same Month Officially Proclaiming March as Women’s History Month, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Called on the Legacy of Women from Michigan “Who Have continued to Provide Both Healing and Hope Throughout History” and who have “paved the way for future generations… to have safer communities to live in.”
Michigan’s single Women’s prison, Women’s Huron Valley, Holds More than 1,700 people. According to testimonies from Those Directly Impact, Women in This Facility Endure Dehumanizing Procedures that contradicty value esvery spoused in the governor’s river of hope-daughter feelings.
The Most Recent Onslaught of Harm is demonstrate in the abusive Policy of Corrections Officer Body-Worn Cameras that Are Used During All Officer and Incarcerated Persons Interactions, Including During Strip Searches, in the Bathroom, During urine drops, and in the showers.
In 2023, the Michigan Department of Corrections Institute the Body Worn Camera Policy that cost the Taxpayers of Michigan Over $ 7 million to implement and will cost Nearly $ 4 million A Year to Mainain.
These Cameras Record Every Interaction Between Correction Officers and Incarcearated People, Even While People Are in States of Undress. Yet, Officers are allowed to pause the cameras when they Use the restroom. Recording A Person in A State of Undress, Without Their Consent, is a Felony Under Michigan Law
Strip Searches— Already a Routine and Invasive Procedure – Now Occur Under the Watch of these cameras. The abusive Practice of Strip Searches is a Daily Experience for Many Incarcearated People and Performed after Every Visit Women have with their Loved Ones Arriving As Visitors.
As the program Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program, Wife, Mother and Liberation Activist, I Witness Firsthand The Harm of Prisons and Advocate for An End to Punishment-Based Systems of Control and More Humane Treatment While On This Path to A Different System.
The American Friends Service Committee, Recently Requested that the Michigan Department of Corrections Turn Off Body Cameras During Strip Searches and End Strip Searches All Together. That has not happened yet.
No Oversight Body Has Account for How Much “Contriband” is Actuly Discovered and Souedd During These Invasive Procedures. Women in Prison Have Always Been Subjected To Daily Strip Searches, Room Shake Downs, and Body Pat Downs. The Presence of Body Cameras Recording these Searches is Recent (NHC1).
Many Women in Prison Are Relentlessly Exposed to the Same Kinds of Traumas that led to their incarceration in the very place they are forced to live day after day. To Add Cameras that are Recording on Officer’s Authoritarian, Uniformed Bodies Asy Strip Search A Person Adds A Layer of Abuse to the Already Harmful Practice of Regular and Routine Strip Searches.
The Strip Process, Whether Recorded or Not, Strips People of Dignity and is a form of Domination and Control. If strip Searches were truly about Safety, their effectiveness would be tracked. If they were meant as a deterrer, they would occur randomly or only when there is credible suspicion.
Afterall, The Visiting Room is load with Security Cameras and Officers Watching All Movements. Visitors are patted down, forced through metal detectors, and ordered to take off their shoes and socks for inspection before their visit. Any Child Wearing A Diaper is Stripped in the Officer’s Presence, and Teenage Girls Are Somits Sent Away to Change If Their Clothing is Deemed “Too Tight” or “Provocative.”
These are Dominatting and Terrorizing Histories That Were Fully Codified and Condoned by Laws and State Institutions. Though laws have changed, the feelings and cultural norms that justified these abuses in the past have not been eradicated. These historical, harmful tactics of power and control continues to influence modern-day police and attitudes within state institutions.
Every Time I Visit My Wife, Who Has Been Subject to the Harmful Nature Of Prison for Over 25 Years, I Experience Not Only The Love I have for my Best Friend and Soulmate and the Love She has for me; I also Witness the Deep Love that Family Members have for the women they are come to visit and the love the woman inside have for them.
Such Love is often interrupted by the intrusive and abusive police of the prison.
People in Prison and Their Loved Ones Deserve Dignity and Respect, Not suspicion and Degradation. INTOREAD OF FUNNELING Millions of Dollars Into Measures That Expand Surveillance and Control, The Michigan Prison System Can Invest More in Educational Programs, Meaningful Activities, and Opportunities that Foster Forgiveness, Transformation, Critical Thinking, and Goodwill.
Michigan’s Only Women’s prison COULD BECOME A Place where Whitmer’s Vision of Safety and Community Truly Flourishes. With bold, comprehensive action, she could transform a system rooted in punishment and control into one groups in hope, restoration, and the promise of freedom. Official words in a proclamation mean little if they are not accompanied by decisive efforts to end harm in real time.
Women Today – And Future Generations – Deserve to Know They Are Valued, Worthy, and Powerful, Living in Safe and Thriving Communities. It is time to end the inhumane treatment of Incarcearated Women in Michigan and surround the country.
Turning off the Cameras During Strip Searches, Cessing Unnecessary Strip Searches Altether, and Prioritizing Transformative Opportunities Are Vital First Steps on the Road to Genuine Healing and Hope.
About the Author: Natalie Holbrook-Combs is the program Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program and A Public Voices Fellow of Transformative Justice Through the Oped Project.
