Michigan keeps death penalty in state prisons Lack of medical care condemns some

It seems that, no matter who is governor, conditions in Michigan prisons continue to be dismally inhumane.

U.S. District Judge Richard A. Enslen has to keep ordering the state to clean up its act. In 1980, when William Milliken was governor, state prisoners filed a federal lawsuit complaining of prison conditions that violated constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment. Enslen, whose court is in Kalamazoo, has overseen that case and monitored its consent decree since 1985.

During the Blanchard administration, it was clear many conditions in state prisons were not improving - and especially not for the mentally ill, whose numbers behind bars were growing. During John Engler's years as governor, when the state closed mental hospitals, many patients with mental illnesses eventually became prisoners with mental illnesses.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has done little to improve medical treatment and mental health care in state prisons during her first term, judging by a report earlier this year in the Detroit Free Press and by Enslen's ruling this week.

The Free Press investigation turned up the case of Lloyd Martell, who was sentenced to up to four years in prison for fleeing from police. While in prison, he developed cancer. A 10-month delay in aggressive treatment turned into a death sentence for Martell.

The Free Press also wrote about Timothy Souders, a mentally ill man who died in August after he was restrained, naked, for four days. Also in August, Granholm pledged to investigate health care lapses in state prisons.

Enslen's order this week makes it clear that progress must be made. He banned the use of restraints, except for medical reasons. He ordered the state to have an adequate number of psychiatrists and psychologists, who should make daily rounds. The state must better coordinate mental health and medical personnel.

For two decades, the state has bridled at what some in the corrections department have described as micromanaging on Enslen's part. The kinds of abuse and neglect described by the Free Press make it clear that federal intervention continues to be necessary in Michigan's prison system.

Granted, the state has been suffering from chronic budget shortfalls. Budgets have been cut in nearly every department. Michigan voters have a lot more on their minds - the economy, education, their own access to health care - to be much concerned about whether prisoners are getting proper medical and psychiatric treatment. The prison health system must be changed - by moral conviction or by court order - to ensure that a moderate prison sentence doesn't become a death sentence.

The Kalamazoo Gazette