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Prison Outreach Project
 Detroit, Michigan--A small but significant step at ending the homophobic abuse of gay inmates held by the Michigan Department of Correction (MDOC) was expressed recently in a letter written by its Director, William C. Overton. In that letter he states:
"I am pleased to inform you that the results of our investigation revealed there is no longer the need to identify prisoners on the basis of their sexual orientation. The Michigan Department of Corrections will soon cease collecting such information and discontinue identifying prisoners as homosexual on forms used by the Department. . ." From the inception of the Prison Outreach Project (POP), one of the key issues was the prevalence of homosexual checkboxes on numerous prison forms. These are always listed in very negative sections of the form along with drug abuse, alcoholism, adjustment problems, assaultive, belligerence, etc. We have found these boxes to be more than just homophobic. They have resulted in the outing of inmates into the worst possible environment. Unintentional outing always involves risk even in polite society, but within the MDOC, the results can be deadly. Many have been refused protective custody and were then raped and are now HIV+, many have been assaulted (gay bashed), many have been abused by guards, subjected to various forms of extortion, and many have been deliberately placed into cells with assaultive cellmates. It all appears to start with the checkboxes. When letters did not work, a meeting was set up by Triangle Foundation's, Jeffrey Montgomery and Dave Forbush of the Prison Outreach Project with then MDOC Director, Bill Martin. Unfortunately, no reforms resulted from this meeting. Lee Hart (also a member of the Prison Outreach Project) and I, have given numerous presentations of some of the horrors faced by these inmates. One was made to the ACLU-Northwest. (We had previously expressed our concerns to ACLU-Detroit.) The meeting with ACLU-NW was extremely positive as its membership seemed readily able to grasp the problem and to focus on key legal issues. They then advised the ACLU-Detroit about using a different approach. Jay Kaplan of ACLU - Detroit, was very receptive and checked with another attorney, Deborah LaBelle. She confirmed the ACLU-NW approach. The hang up had been that it would be necessary to prove that harm had been done as a result of these check boxes. The ACLU-NW differed and stated that only the potential for harm was necessary to be proven. Jay Kaplan, ACLU-Detroit, then wrote a letter to the Director of the MDOC in mid-October. It went unanswered until now.
On March 31, 2003, William S. Overton, Director of the Michigan Department of Corrections responded. In short, they will no longer be identifying prisoners in this manner. It has been a very long struggle just to achieve this minor victory. There are still unanswered questions regarding the inmates who have these boxes checked throughout their files. There is also no prohibition issued against the verbal outing of gay inmates to other prisoners. BUT it is a start and a very significant step. Unfortunately, it did not take them long to retaliate on Ron. He has been continuously placed in cells with assaultive inmates. They turned the heat up on him almost immediately. He sought Protective Custody and this time they gave it to him. (Protective Custody is like Solitary Confinement and reduces the likelihood of parole.) He was transferred to another prison and most of his property was stolen. There, he again sought Protective Custody. When he came out, he was placed into a cell with a member of the Aryan Nation. This cellmate, to the prison officials' dismay, has proved non-violent. Unfortunately, he is moving out in early May, but has signed an affidavit stating how he believes that Ron was placed into his cell so that he would harm to Ron. The struggle, still in its earliest stage, continues. However, as a result of this new development there will be a little less misery for some inmates, fewer less assaults, fewer HIV infections.. Finally, Ron is strengthened when he is receiving mail. If he were to keep a low profile he would probably be released in time, but that is not his way. He prefers to stand up for what he feels is right. How many of us would do that under such circumstances? His address is: Ron Rousseau #171281 Macomb Correctional Facility 34625 26 Mile Road New Haven, MI 48048 E-mail Group Inclusion: dforbush@direcway.com |
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Ron Rousseau