LANSING (AP) — The number of assaults on inmates by other inmates housed in Michigan prisons fell last year, but state officials say it’s too early to tell if a seven-year surge in violence has begun to reverse itself.
Assaults on state inmates rose 82 percent between 2007 and 2014, the Detroit Free Press reported. The number of assaults peaked in 2014 with 1,350 total assaults on inmates, including 115 of the most serious type resulting in death or being treated in the hospital beyond an emergency visit.
Recently released records show that the number of assaults dropped by 14 percent in 2015, to 1,159. The most serious assaults fell 30 percent to 65.
Legislative Corrections Ombudsman Keith Barber said it’s too early to determine if last year was an outlier.
“I’m hoping it is a trend of things to come,” Barber said. “It’s a little bit like the stock market; you have these hills and valleys.”
Until 2011, there were never more than 40 serious assaults in a year, according to an annual “critical incident reports” from the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Tané Atkins, a senior analyst in Barber’s office, identified possibly causes for the upward trend as problems with the way prisoners are classified for security purposes, prison gangs and overcrowding.
Anita Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Corrections Organization union, also said that classification could be a factor in the rise of violence seen through 2014.
“Corrections officers are constantly saying classification levels are inappropriately low these days,” Lloyd said. “It seems like the MDOC (Michigan Department of Corrections) is inclined to squeeze as many prisoners as possible into the lower levels, which are less expensive to house.”
Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz said the classification system is appropriate and balances the department’s management needs and the need to prepare inmates to leave prison.
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