A lawsuit alleging that the Michigan Department of Corrections instructed guards to use body cameras during routine strip searches at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Washtenaw County has been dismissed by a judge.
The $500 million lawsuit filed against the Michigan Department of Corrections, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, MDOC Director Heidi Washington, Deputy Director Jeremy Bush, Warden Jeremy Howard, Assistant Deputy Warden Steve Horton, and numerous other officials, stated that women at the state’s only women’s prisons were subjected to lewd comments and behavior from corrections officers during strip searches, especially since the implementation of body-worn cameras.
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20 women were listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Flood Law, the law firm that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the inmates in May 2025, said they represent a fraction of the 500 women who experienced similar violations.
According to Flood Law, Michigan is the only state in the country to have a policy to record women during strip searches.
The lawsuit alleged multiple violations, including invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sex-based discrimination under Michigan’s Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act, and violations of Michigan constitutional rights.
“What these women continue to endure is nothing short of horrific. This case exposes a grotesque abuse of power that directly re-traumatizes survivors of sexual assault,” said Todd Flood, managing partner of Flood Law, when the lawsuit was filed in May. “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 lawsuit claimed that many of the women who came forward experienced severe physical manifestations of psychological distress, including debilitating panic attacks, insomnia, gastrointestinal distress and exacerbation of pre-existing conditions.
When the lawsuit was filed, Local 4 reached out to the Department of Corrections for comment, but did not hear back.
On Oct. 15, 2025, the lawsuit was dismissed.
Flood issued a statement on Oct. 22, stating that they intend to file an appeal in the case.
“This case is meritorious on all fours, and unfortunately, we have to exhaust the judicial remedy of going to the court of appeals to have a second look,” Flood said.
Related --> Here’s what 20 Michigan inmates said in lawsuit against recorded strip searches