More than 500 incarcerated women at Michigan’s only women’s prison are suing the state for $500 million, alleging they were illegally recorded during strip searches and other moments when they undressed in what attorneys are calling one of the most egregious privacy violations in the country.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, accuses Michigan Department of Corrections officials of directing staff at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility to use body cameras during routine strip searches, a practice not employed in any other state, according to the complaint. Attorneys say the recordings continued even after a policy change in March 2025 formally banned the use of cameras during such searches.
“What these women continue to endure is nothing short of horrific,” attorney Todd Flood, managing partner of Flood Law, which filed the case, said in a statement Tuesday. “This case exposes a grotesque abuse of power that directly retraumatizes survivors of sexual assault. Despite multiple warnings about the policy's illegality from advocacy organizations and state legislators, MDOC officials have failed to fully halt these privacy violations.”
The complaint alleges that officers made lewd comments and engaged in inappropriate behavior while women were naked, showering, using the bathroom, or being searched. Most of the women, according to the suit, are survivors of sexual violence and have experienced profound psychological harm as a result of being filmed.
The named defendants include Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, MDOC Director Heidi Washington, Deputy Director Jeremy Bush, Warden Jeremy Howard, Assistant Deputy Warden Steve Horton, and other high-ranking corrections officials. The lawsuit seeks damages as well as an injunction, destruction of the recordings, and mandatory retraining of prison staff.
One plaintiff said the experience shattered years of personal healing. “I had just moved past my trauma of rape in my life and leave it to MDOC to always violate you,” she said.
Another woman, who had worked as a prisoner observation aide for 11 years, said she was forced to resign due to the repeated trauma of being filmed.
Attorneys are representing 20 women in the initial filing but expect the case to expand to include hundreds more. They allege violations of constitutional rights, Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Despite warnings from advocacy groups and lawmakers about the policy’s legality, the lawsuit claims MDOC failed to fully stop the practice, which the plaintiffs argue constitutes a felony under Michigan law.
Metro Times is awaiting a comment from MDOC.
The complaint comes less than a week after an MDOC employee filed a lawsuit accusing the agency, its director, and its former media relations spokesperson of sexual abuse, harassment, and retaliation.
