Death at Michigan women’s prison ruled suicide. Autopsy points to aspirin

An autopsy ruled that Michigan women’s prison inmate Ashley Hoath died by suicide from acute aspirin poisoning
The autopsy cited evidence of prior self-harm and a documented suicide attempt involving other drugs in 2014
Four women have died at the prison so far in 2026, making it the facility’s deadliest year in at least half a decade

An autopsy report released Thursday determined that the third of four Michigan women to die this year at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility took her own life by acute aspirin poisoning.

The report, completed at the Michigan Medicine Pathology and Clinical Laboratories in Ann Arbor, concluded that Ashley Hoath had a salicylate level of 80 mg/dL in her blood when she died June 6, a concentration considered severely toxic. Pill fragments were also found in her stomach.

Generally, the “therapeutic range” for salicylate – the active ingredient in pain relievers like aspirin — is between 10 and 30 mg/dL. Levels above 70 mg/dL can be toxic.

Dr. Catherine Morris, who conducted the autopsy, ruled Hoath’s death a suicide, noting a cluster of scars and wounds in various stages of healing on her left arm consistent with self-harm and a past suicide attempt with other drugs in 2014.

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“Given the reported history of intentional ingestion, prior suicide and evidence of self-injury, the manner of death is best classified as suicide,” Morris wrote in the report.

An attempt to reach Hoath’s family was unsuccessful.

Scrutiny

The string of recent deaths at Michigan’s only women’s prison — along with allegations of unsafe living conditions — have sparked increasing scrutiny of the facility, including bipartisan calls for MDOC Director Heidi Washington to resign and for Gov.Gretchen Whitmer to intervene.

Hoath was the third of four inmates to die in recent months. Khaira Howard, 28, died May 13, followed by Rebecca Fackler, 57, on May 17 and Delphenia Jones, 62, on July 2.

Howard died of a blood clot that blocked an artery in her lungs, her autopsy revealed. She also suffered from a heart condition that left fluid in her lungs.

Autopsy reports for the other two women have not been released yet, but the Michigan Department of Corrections has said it does not suspect foul play.

Already, more inmates have died at the Ypsilanti facility in 2026 than in any of the past five years. The prison has recorded nine inmate deaths since 2021, according to MDOC data. Two have been ruled suicides, while the remaining eight were attributed to natural or accidental causes.

More on Hoath’s death

Last month, early on the morning of June 6, Hoath was escorted to a health care area within the prison after an officer noted she wasn’t feeling well, MDOC spokesperson Jenni Riehle previously told Bridge Michigan.

Medical staff at the facility determined that Hoath needed to be transferred to a hospital, where she died hours later.

When Hoath arrived at the hospital, she was alert and responsive but experienced nausea and vomiting after ingesting apple seeds and complained of a headache from the previous day, according to the autopsy report.

The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hoath’s autopsy.