Michigan prisons paid millions over inmate deaths, disability discrimination

As statewide legal costs fell, the MDOC recorded the largest agency increase
MDOC legal payouts more than doubled to nearly $7 million last fiscal year
Three lawsuits drove most payouts, including prison stabbings and discrimination claims

The Michigan Department of Corrections paid out $7 million in legal judgments and settlements in 2025, more than double the prior year, according to a mandated report recently filed with the state Legislature.

Most of those payouts stemmed from three cases: a $2.3 million settlement with a former MDOC employee who alleged disability discrimination, along with two judgments of $2.5 million and $1.2 million related to a series of 2022 stabbings at Macomb County Correctional Facility that resulted in two inmate deaths and injuries to another, according to a new state report.

Overall, the state government paid out $38 million in court judgments and settlements in the 2025 fiscal year, a 62% reduction from the prior fiscal year.

MDOC bucked that trend, however, paying nearly $3 million more than in the 2023-24 fiscal year. Still, the $7 million payout wasn’t nearly as large as the $32 million MDOC paid out in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

“Taxpayers should be worried about these things,” said Vivian Aranda-Hughes, an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University.

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A prison program with adequate resources, staffing and services will likely lead to less violence and related lawsuits, she said. “And the culture is going to improve.”

The MDOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.

A disability claim

In 2022, a six-person jury found that MDOC did not adequately accommodate former MDOC corrections officer Darrin Rushing’s disability stemming from a prior inmate attack. Rushing accused the department of discriminating against him, in violation of the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act.

The state and Rushing settled the jury award for $2.3 million.

Rushing had been severely injured in 2011 while trying to break up a fight between two inmates at the Macomb Correctional Facility. He was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive disorder from the incident.

After returning to work, Rushing requested a special problem offender notice for the inmate who injured him, which typically results in the inmate being transferred to a different facility to prevent contact between them and an officer. That request was denied.

Several times, Rushing asked not to be assigned to the inmate’s housing unit or to be reassigned to avoid contact with him. In one instance, he refused to work in the dining hall in fear that he might see the inmate, but was given a five-day suspension followed by a seven-day suspension for insubordination.

“All they had to do was keep him away from a single person and they refused to do that,” said Jonathan Marko, a Detroit-based attorney who represented Rushing. “What could be easier? He wasn’t asking them to move the sun and the moon.”

Macomb attacks

Marko also represented the plaintiffs in the two other lawsuits that led to large payments from the MDOC.

Two families and an inmate sued the Department in 2023 following 3 separate attacks in 2022 that resulted in two inmate deaths and severe injuries to another inmate.

The state paid Crystal Neely nearly $1.3 million through mediation to resolve a lawsuit over the 2022 stabbing death of her brother-in-law, Christopher Neely, who was killed in a knife attack by two inmates at the Macomb Correctional Facility.

The state paid a $2.57 million judgment related to a lawsuit by Martinez and Daniel Mastaw, which was resolved through mediation. Mastaw was stabbed near the prison chow hall in October of 2022 and suffered injuries to his face.

Within a day of Mastaw’s attack, Martinez was found dead in his cell after suffering stab wounds and asphyxiation.

“There’s just a pattern and practice of violence at that particular facility, at that particular time that led to those injuries and deaths,” Marko said of the state-run prison in Macomb County’s Lenox Township.

Other major legal payouts

The MDOC wasn’t the only department that made big payouts last fiscal year.

Settlements with the Department of Health and Human Services totaled roughly $4.2 million, an increase of $3.9 million from the prior year, according to the legislative report.

The largest settlement was for a $3.5 million class-action lawsuit that alleged MDHHS did not provide mental health services to children eligible for Medicaid.

At any given time, any state department could face a number of lawsuits. But MDOC, in particular, remains involved in several high-profile cases.

In 2019, a group of inmates at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility filed a class-action lawsuit against the department, alleging they were exposed to toxic black mold for years.

The state has repeatedly disputed claims of black mold at the prison, citing reports and testing that found fungal spore levels were safe and only slightly higher than those outdoors.

The lawsuit is ongoing but no hearing date has been scheduled.

Recently, two current and former state employees filed a lawsuit against the department alleging that Gerald Burton, a former corrections officer, harassed and sexually assaulted them, according to a civil complaint filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Burton resigned from the MDOC in 2024 after he was convicted of multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct against five women in May.