Three Women Died at a Michigan Prison in Less than a Month
by Jo Ellen Knott
A medical crisis has put the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV), the only women’s prison in Michigan, in the public eye as three prisoners died unexpectedly in less than a month.
Detroit Metro Times reported that 36-year-old prisoner Ashley Hoath died on June 6, 2026, hours after being transferred from the prison’s medical unit to a hospital. Hoath, who was serving a 25- to 40-year sentence for hiring a hit man to kill her abusive ex-boyfriend, was the most recent person to die at the prison, a facility facing longstanding allegations of medical neglect, mold, retaliation by guards and understaffing, among other issues.
The second prisoner, Khaira Howard, 28, died on May 13 at WHV around two weeks before she was scheduled for release. Howard, according to her mother, Shaquilla DeShields, suffered from schizophrenia and believed someone had put blood in her food. DeShields, days before her daughter’s death, repeatedly contacted prison officials asking them to help Howard and conduct a wellness check.
Four days after Howard’s death, Rebecca Fackler, 57, was found dead in her cell. Prisoners locked up near Fackler recall hearing her cry out for help while guards refused to respond. By the time Fackler’s body was found, her jaw appeared to have stiffened, a sign that rigor mortis may have begun, the Detroit Metro Times reported.
Women who were formerly incarcerated at WHV, which is located near Ypsilanti, described the prison’s healthcare system as practically non-existent. “They have 30 days to see you. If that appointment gets missed, you’re starting over again,” Kelly Jones, a former prisoner from 2010 to 2018 at WHV, told CBS News. “If you ask anybody who’s been incarcerated at The Valley, we don’t call it healthcare, we call it death care.”
The three women’s deaths have sparked intense legislative backlash. About three dozen lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties have called for the immediate resignation of Heidi Washington, the director of the state Department of Corrections (DOC). The letter, written by State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia), reads in part:
“Significant policy and culture change must occur within the Michigan Department of Corrections … However, it has become abundantly clear to each of us that such change cannot and will not occur under your leadership as Director. In the over a decade that you have served as Director of the Michigan Department of Corrections, concerns raised by inmates, their loved ones, and legislators alike have gone unaddressed … The wellbeing of the 33,000 individuals in [DOC] custody and their families, and the public interest, demand urgent change. That change must begin with your immediate resignation as Director.”
While Washington has yet to resign, the warden in charge of WHV, Jermey Howard, has taken a temporary personal leave and remains off the job as of late June.
Sources: Detroit Metro Press, CBS News
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