Scabies outbreak puts more than half of Michigan prison under quarantine

The Michigan Department of Corrections confirmed 15 cases of scabies at the Muskegon Correctional Facility
The outbreak has prompted a quarantine of four of the six housing units
Visits to the units under quarantine have been suspended until further notice

More than half of the housing units at a Muskegon prison are under quarantine after 15 cases of scabies were confirmed by the Michigan Department of Corrections.

The itchy skin condition, caused by mites burrowing in the upper layer of the skin, was first reported at the Muskegon Correctional Facility on May 26.

As of Tuesday, four of six housing units were on “quarantine status” and closed to visitors until further notice.

“Individuals who have been diagnosed with scabies are placed in medical isolation for at least 24 hours to be treated and have received clean linen and clothing changes,” Department of Corrections spokesperson Jenni Riehle told Bridge Michigan in an email.

“For all diagnosed prisoners, or those determined a close contact or part of mass treatment, the facility is laundering bedding and clothing at high temperatures, sealing personal property that can’t be washed, and cleaning hard surfaces,” she said.

Human scabies can spread rapidly through direct skin-to-skin contact with an infected person, especially in crowded settings where people have frequent close physical or skin-to-skin contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

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As of April, the Muskegon facility housed nearly 1,300 prisoners and had 300 employees. Family members can check on the quarantine status of the facility’s housing units on the MDOC website.

“Enhanced health surveillance is being conducted with close monitoring of new rashes or itching, and weekly rounds in the affected units will be performed to ensure that anyone who develops symptoms can be appropriately treated until the outbreak is over,” Riehle said.

Scabies outbreaks have surfaced in Michigan prisons before.

About a decade ago, officials reported an outbreak at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti, the state’s only women’s prison, where incarcerated women and advocates raised concerns about delayed treatment and unsanitary conditions.

In 2019, the MDOC treated 2,000 inmates for scabies after the outbreak went undiagnosed for over a year, the Detroit Free Press reported. Machelle Pearson, who was an inmate at the time, and three other women sued the MDOC along with Director Heidi Washington and several other defendants.

In March, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower-court ruling that prison officials have qualified immunity and cannot be held responsible for failing to identify and treat the outbreak. The federal lawsuit challenging the MDOC’s response to the outbreak is still ongoing.

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