Susan Farrell

There are so many things wrong in our country that it's important to not think of too many of them at once or I would stop functioning. But this one, which you may not have heard of. This one.

It came to my attention from public defender Scott Hechinger, and it's the story of Susan Farrell, the first woman to die in a Michigan prison from COVID-19. She was 74. As the ACLU said in retweeting Hechinger's thread about Farrell, "This is wrong on every level."

[Farrell] served over 30 years for allegedly killing her husband, who sexually and physically abused her. [I] just heard from her bunkmate, who alerted guards. They put her [the bunkmate] in solitary for it. It's even worse:

They let Susan Farrell seize in cell for 45 minutes with the bunkmate screaming for someone and watching her die before healthcare came. Then they cuffed the bunkie, brought her to the command center, then stripped her down and put her in "bam-bam" for three full days. What is bam-bam?

The punishment for screaming for help for a dying woman was bam-bam. An extreme form of solitary. "Solitary with 0 property, the lights on the entire time and a camera rolling, a Prison Observation Aide coming by every 15 minutes, and essentially nothing at all in the room."

This is what they force you to wear in bam-bam in women's prison in Michigan. Women's Huron Valley to be exact. This is what they forced a woman trying to get guards to pay attention to a dying elderly woman seizing in her cell to wear.


Here is more on Susan Farrell. "She endured years of domestic violence, including sexual assault, that caused so much physical damage, 'they've done surgeries because of what my husband did to me. I have a bad vaginal prolapse and a bowel prolapse.'" Detroit Free Press story: Susan Farrell, prisoner since 1990 in slaying of her husband, dies of coronavirus.

"He would punch me, grab me, slap me on my face. If I said no to something, it would get him a little bit angry. I tried to keep myself from being confrontational."

Her last attempt at a commutation was in 2018, but her request was denied.

"In prison her already frail health never stood a chance against COVID. Susan is another battered woman whose case was misunderstood in a criminal justice system that has so much to learn about intimate partner violence. Her entire life of abuse ended in death behind bars."

OUTRAGED? Take action now. Call on Michigan Governor Whitmer to release elderly and vulnerable people from prison in Michigan now.

Another commenter responded:

Here's the link to the Warden's number and address if yall would like to tell him how you feel. (Old laptop, couldnt screenshot)

https://michigan.gov/corrections/0,4551,7-119--116930--,00.html

Acting Warden Jeremy Howard
3201 Bemis Road
Ypsilanti, MI 48197-0911
TELEPHONE: 734-572-9900

What I want to know is, What is the purpose of prison for a 74-year-old prisoner of any gender, really, and especially a person who killed her spouse in what must have been extreme distress more than 30 years ago?

It's obviously not to keep society safe from her. It's obviously not to rehabilitate her. It's obviously retribution or at best a misplaced idea of deterrence. (As when Marissa Alexander was convicted because she fired a warning shot to prevent her abusive husband from advancing, even though Florida has a Stand Your Ground law. Only men get to stand their ground.)

All I can hope is that while in prison, Farrell found some level of community with the other women there.

Rest in peace, Susan.