Itchy rash spreads at women's prison in Mich.; officials blame inmates

LANSING — A painful and itchy rash continues to spread through Michigan's only women's prison, and officials said Tuesday they still don't know what is causing the rash or how best to treat it.

The Free Press first reported the problem in March, when officials said there were close to 50 cases confined to one of the Ypsilanti-area prison's 15 units.

Now, there are nearly 200 cases of the itchy rash — which features little red bumps on inner thighs, buttocks, arms, backs and chests — in eight of the units, Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz said.

Prisoners blame conditions such as leaky roofs and inadequate ventilation they say have resulted in excess mildew and black mold.

Prison officials, who insist the rash is not contagious, deny there is a mold problem and say they suspect the rash is the fault of the inmates.

But Gautz admitted prison officials have little more than theories, despite a problem that has persisted for more than a year.

Officials believe the rash is the result of improper mixing of prison-issued cleaning fluids by inmate porters who are charged with cleaning the prison, along with an inmate practice of using homemade laundry detergent to hand-wash their brassieres and underwear, rather than sending them to the prison laundry, Gautz told the Free Press.

That's ridiculous, said University of Michigan professor Carol Jacobsen, who works with the inmates and parolees at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility as director of the Michigan Women's Justice & Clemency Project.

"It is obscene to blame the women for the horrible rash that has now spread throughout the women's prison," Jacobsen said. "It is the fault of the Michigan Department of Corrections."

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Jacobsen said she and others have complained for years that the prison was "unsafe, toxic and filthy with feces on the walls and urine in the vents" when the department removed men from the facility in 2009. She said female inmates have begged for proper cleaning materials, but have been refused, and unhealthy black mold has spread throughout the prison.

The Free Press has reported on a history of leaking roofs at the prison, confirmed by inmates, corrections officers, and prison officials. Prisoners brought a class-action suit, alleging inhumane conditions, in 2016, but a federal judge in Detroit declined to certify the suit this year.

Gautz denied there is black mold at the prison. He said what might have happened at the prison a decade ago couldn't possibly have a causal relationship with rashes happening today. Gautz provided the Free Press with copies of recent inspections by Corrections Department employees that say "the institution continues to be maintained in excellent sanitary condition."

But Machelle Pearson, 52, who served more than 30 years behind bars after her conviction for a 1983 homicide when she was a juvenile, said she saw black mold in the Gladwin unit, where the rash began, when she worked as a porter who cleaned the restrooms prior to her August parole.

In the shower area, an entire corner of the tile ceiling was eaten away by mold, and because of a lack of ventilation, condensation would drip on the prisoners and their clothes while they showered, Pearson said.

The prison stopped allowing the porters to use bleach to clean, and instead provided diluted cleaning agents that don't clean properly, she said.

During the brief period early this year when the Gladwin housing unit was under quarantine because of the rash, inmates were directed to paint over the black mold with white paint, Pearson told the Free Press.

Pearson said she contracted the rash and still has scars around her ankles and feet, which she said an outside doctor told her, after her release, was because of exposure to fungus and mold.

Gautz said the prison paints the restrooms as needed, but "it is simply not true that prisoners were told to paint over black mold with white paint."

He said bleach was taken away as a cleaning agent in the last year because it was considered a possible source of the rash, but it is still used in the prison laundry.

He said officials have ruled out a number of possible causes, including black mold, after testing the water and air and searching for signs of mold. Scabies was also suspected early on and ruled out, he said.

Prison officials have given the inmates a range of topical ointments and creams, including a steroid cream, to relieve the itching and treat the rash, he said. But so far, almost nobody who has developed the rash has seen their symptoms disappear.

He said Corizon, the Correction Department's health care contractor, recently agreed to provide a doctor who would focus almost exclusively on addressing the rash problem. The prison has also asked for volunteers who have the rash to move into the health care unit, where they can be closely monitored and treated with topical creams, he said. Three inmates volunteered, and two of their conditions are improving, he said.

"We're definitely doing our best to get this to a conclusion," said Gautz, adding the department has consulted with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the medical school at Wayne State University.

"It's all hands on deck."

Brooke Taylor, a Traverse City resident whose mother, Carolyn Taylor, is an inmate at Women's Huron Valley, said her mother has the painful rash from head to toe and volunteered to move to the infirmary eight days ago. Taylor said she spoke to her mother Tuesday and she told her the rash has not improved — and may have worsened — since she moved to the infirmary.

Carolyn Taylor lives in the Filmore unit, her daughter said. She doesn't work as a porter and sends all her garments to the prison laundry, she said. She, too, believes the rash is the result of mold, which she said was cleaned from the prison restrooms not long ago and has already come back.

Gautz said he doesn't intend to blame prisoners for the rash, but after eliminating many other possibilities, the improper use of cleaning agents is "our best working theory."

Gautz said that when 115 prisoners had been diagnosed with the rash, 55 percent of them were porters. But he said he doesn't have an updated porter number to go with the current number for rash cases, which is 190.

He said officials had also noticed a high proportion of rash incidents among prisoners who were mixing dental tablets, prison soap and shampoo to launder their own bras and underwear, rather than send it to the prison laundry. But he couldn't say what percentage of prisoners experiencing the rash had done that.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.