ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WZMQ) – It was announced on Tuesday, June 21, that Attorney General Dana Nessel would be charging eight former and current employees of the Alger Correctional Facility with felonies related to the in-custody death of former inmate Jonathan Lancaster.
Lancaster was first incarcerated at a facility downstate for robbery and gun charges, but was transferred to the Alger Correctional Facility in late 2018 following an altercation with another inmate. According to his sister, Danielle Dunn, he was in solitary confinement for the entire time he was at the Upper Peninsula facility until his death in March 2019.
Dunn said that her brother was very good at communicating with his family before being moved, but that changed once he got to Alger.
“I got a phone call at the end of February, he was whispering into the phone, and I immediately knew something wasn’t right,” Dunn said. “He told me, ‘The officers are going to kill me. I’m going to die in here.’ I knew something was really wrong with his mental health at that point.”
After the phone call, Dunn began calling the prison to check up on her brother. Workers at the prison would tell her that he was “physically fine,” and that he was refusing mental health checks. Dunn said that the reports from the MDOC that she later saw did not back up the claims that she was told over the phone.
Lancaster began to refuse food because he believed that his food was being poisoned, and lost over a quarter of his body weight.
According to Dunn, when employees at the facility did decide to remove him from the cell for observation, Lancaster was unresponsive, and that’s when they began to use force.
“The MDOC report, which I have, shows that they used an entire can of pepper spray on his face. Why?” she asked.
Lancaster would later die of dehydration while in the observation cell.
Over four years later, criminal charges were filed against seven former employees and one current employee of the facility. For Dunn, who has since become an advocate for prison reform, hearing the news was shocking.
“I’m still in shock to be honest with you,” she said. “Of course it makes me happy, and it’s somewhat of a relief, but this is just the beginning of another long battle. I know what’s next. While yesterday was a victory for my family and the prison reform community, it doesn’t end here.”
She also said that there are countless families that reach out to her on a regular basis who are in similar positions, or fear their loved ones may be neglected like Lancaster was, and this is good news for them as well.
“This is going to bring change,” said Dunn. “Not only do I want that for Jon, but I want that change to our system so that doesn’t happen again.”
Dunn has been working with the Citizens for Prison Reform and the Open MI Door Campaign, as well as working on legislation that will improve solitary confinement practices around the state. Practices like regularly weighing inmates and body cameras for guards, she said, could have prevented her brothers death.
“Start with Michigan, this is just the start, we’ll start here,” Dunn said. “This is just the beginning. I’m never going to quit. But there is hope for other families who are suffering, there is hope for you.”
