MDOC emergency team searches Macomb prison after latest assault
The Michigan Department of Corrections used its Emergency Response Team to conduct a mass search at a prison in Macomb County on Monday after the latest in a series of inmate-on-inmate assaults, seizing weapons and other contraband, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
The action was sparked by an assault by an inmate Sunday night at Macomb Correctional Facility in Lenox Township that involved a weapon and sent a second inmate to the hospital, Kyle Kaminski told the Free Press.
"Those searches resulted in the recovery of various items of contraband, including some prisoner-made weapons," Kaminski said.
The Free Press has reported on a series of serious incidents at the prison, including the killing of two prisoners in attacks involving knives and the serious wounding of a third prisoner during a 30-day period last fall.
In 2022, after the overdose death of inmate Ventron Lott in the prison's residential treatment facility, Former Macomb prisoner Marshall Forrest swore an affidavit alleging widespread prison drug dealing controlled by gangs and certain prison officers, and the use of smuggled cellphones to make and receive payments. Forrest, who wrote to several law enforcement agencies and gave a lengthy interview to the Free Press, has since been moved to another prison.
Last October, the former warden, George Stephenson, was removed from the Macomb prison with no public explanation and issued a "stop order" barring him from prison property. He has not returned since. Prison officials have not linked Stephenson's departure to drug dealing or any other specific problems. In November, the Free Press reported that Macomb prisoners used a smuggled phone to record a rap video that was posted to social media in what officials deemed a serious security breach.
The Free Press exclusively reported July 26 that two families and a prisoner sued the Michigan Department of Corrections, alleging gross negligence, over the 2022 killings of prisoners Christopher Neely, 34, and Ruben Martinez, 28, as well as the serious but nonfatal knife attack on Daniel Mastaw, now 40.
In the latest assault Sunday, prison officials discovered an inmate with injuries that appeared caused by an assault with an unspecified weapon by another inmate and sent the injured inmate to the hospital, Kaminski said. The injured prisoner was released Monday and transferred to another prison, he said.
"The facility immediately initiated an MDOC investigation into the assault and notified Michigan State Police so a criminal investigation could be started," Kaminski said. "The facility was able to identify the other prisoner that was involved, and that prisoner has been transferred to a higher custody level facility while the investigation and disciplinary process are completed."
The Emergency Response Team — made up of specially trained officers from across the state and used to respond to prison disturbances and other events — is periodically used to conduct special mass searches, Kaminski said.
At Macomb Correctional Facility, the number of assaults on prisoners increased to 41 in 2021 and 45 in 2022, up from an average of 17.5 per year between 2017 and 2020, department records show. The number of times officers had to use force to maintain control at the prison was 158 in 2021 and 133 in 2022, up from an average of 39 per year between 2017 and 2020, records show.
Prison officers blame chronic understaffing at Macomb and other state prisons for many of the problems.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MDOC emergency team searches Macomb prison after latest assault
