Manslaughter charges have been dropped against six Alger Correctional Facility employees who were accused of not doing enough to prevent the death of an inmate while in custody at the Munising facility back in 2019.
Jonathon Lancaster was incarcerated, and while behind bars, went on a hunger strike. The 38-year-old died five days later of dehydration in his cell, and earlier this summer, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed involuntary manslaugher charges against former Acting Warden Scott Sprader, Deputy Warden Benny Mercier, and four nurses: Paul Zeleniak, John Crane, Barbara Bedient, and Nathan Moser.
On Momday, Alger County District Court Judge Charles Nebel concluded a preliminary hearing by not binding the case over to circuit court, effectively dismissing the charges. The preliminary hearing had gone on for several days last week. Nebel ruled that the six employees may have failed to provide the care that Lancaster was entitled to while in custody, but that there was no evidence that any of the six directly caused the inmate’s death.
We are awaiting an official statement from Nessel’s office, and will post it once it is available.
The advocacy group “Citizens For Prison Reform” did issue a statement shortly after Nebel’s decision was released.
A portion of that statement, attributed to Group Founder Lois Pullano, is posted below:
“Jonathan Lancaster was strapped to a bed for 5 days with no food or water while in a state of medical emergency. He was refused medical and psychiatric health care. Jon lost 51 pounds in 15 days and, despite being unresponsive, was forcibly transferred from his cell to an observation cell by a violent process known as a cell “extraction.” Today, we are wondering how we are going to prevent more “Jons” dying in solitary confinement. Jonathan Lancaster’s death is not an isolated incident. We have seen death after death in these kinds of circumstances. History continues to repeat itself.
“This honorable judge, who was visibly shaken, stated repeatedly that he will be haunted for the rest of his life by what he read and saw on the video of Jon dying. Everyone who witnesses the treatment of a person being pepper balled, as Jon was, or gassed five times while incapacitated, will come away from that experience with harm and trauma. Everyone who witnessed his slow torturous death is traumatized, including officers, who go home after to their families.
“Every day, Citizens for Prison Reform hears from families with terrifying concerns about their loved ones with mental illness who can be inaccessible inside of Michigans’ 27 prisons. We receive letters from incarcerated individuals themselves, begging for help. They want treatment, sometimes they are already in psychosis and they are scared for their lives.”
It should be noted that Jon was in a state of psychosis for weeks leading up to his death. Jon thought he was being poisened, per MDOC records and Pyshiatrist Dr. Shiener’s report. Jon was not on a hunger strike. As noted in Dr. Shiener’s report, ” Mr. Lanscaster would not have died, and his condition would have responded to treatment. This would constitute a deliberate indifference to his deteriorating medical condition and his emergent need for psychiatric care. Mr. Lancaster would not have died, and his condition would have responded to treatment” Per. Dr. Shiener.
We can no longer stand back and think this is treatment that is compatible or greater to that in the community, we must act and request swift, drastic changes within this system that is charged with rehabiltiating individuals. Thank you for becoming educated and aware of the treatment inside our prisons for so many who suffer from mental illness.