LANSING, Mich. (WOWO) — The Michigan Department of Corrections paid nearly $7 million in legal judgments and settlements during the 2024-25 fiscal year, more than twice what the agency paid the previous year, according to a report filed with the Michigan Legislature.

Three cases accounted for roughly $6 million of the total, including lawsuits stemming from fatal and serious inmate attacks at the Macomb Correctional Facility and a disability discrimination case brought by a former corrections officer.

The overall amount paid by the state was substantially lower than the previous year. Michigan agencies collectively paid about $38 million in judgments and settlements during fiscal year 2024-25, a 62% decline from the prior fiscal year.

The Department of Corrections moved in the opposite direction, however, with its legal payouts increasing by nearly $3 million from the previous fiscal year.

The agency’s $7 million total was still far below the more than $32 million it paid in each of fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23.

The figures are contained in the state’s annual lawsuit report, which tracks judgments and settlements involving Michigan government agencies. The Senate Fiscal Agency maintains the Legislature’s annual reports on lawsuits involving the state.

Vivian Aranda-Hughes, an associate professor in Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice, said taxpayers should be concerned about significant legal payouts involving the corrections system.

She said adequate staffing, resources and services could help reduce violence and lawsuits inside prisons.

A major portion of the 2025 MDOC payouts involved a former corrections officer who said the department failed to accommodate a disability stemming from an earlier inmate attack.

Darrin Rushing, who worked as a corrections officer at the Macomb Correctional Facility, was seriously injured in 2011 while intervening in a fight between prisoners.

According to a 2024 Michigan Court of Appeals opinion, Rushing was injured when he intervened in a fight involving an inmate identified as Lester Gunn. Rushing fell backward while attempting to pull Gunn away from the altercation and suffered a serious leg injury.

Rushing later returned to his job and said he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive disorder related to the incident.

He requested that the inmate who injured him be subject to a special problem offender notice, a designation that can result in an inmate being transferred to another facility to prevent contact with an officer.

Rushing also asked on multiple occasions not to be assigned to the inmate’s housing unit.

According to the court record, Rushing at one point refused to work in the prison dining hall because he feared encountering the inmate. He was disciplined for insubordination.

A jury found in Rushing’s favor in 2022, determining that the Department of Corrections had violated Michigan’s Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act by failing to adequately accommodate him.

The Michigan Court of Appeals later affirmed the judgment according to Bridge Michigan.

The state and Rushing ultimately settled the case for $2.3 million. The Michigan Attorney General’s Office formally notified state lawmakers of the settlement in January 2025, as required for state settlements exceeding $200,000.

Detroit attorney Jonathan Marko, who represented Rushing, said the requested accommodation was relatively simple.

“All they had to do was keep him away from a single person and they refused to do that,” Marko said.

Two other lawsuits involving the Macomb Correctional Facility accounted for another roughly $3.8 million in state payments.

Those cases stemmed from a series of inmate attacks in 2022 that left two prisoners dead and another seriously injured.

One involved Christopher Neely, who was killed in a stabbing at the prison. His family sued the state, alleging failures surrounding the attack.

The state paid Crystal Neely, Christopher Neely’s sister-in-law, nearly $1.3 million to resolve that case through mediation.

Another case involved Martinez Mastaw, who was stabbed near the prison’s chow hall in October 2022 and suffered serious facial injuries.

The state paid approximately $2.57 million in connection with that lawsuit, which also was resolved through mediation.

Within a day of Mastaw’s attack, another inmate, Daniel Martinez, was found dead in his cell after suffering stab wounds and asphyxiation, according to the reporting.

Marko represented plaintiffs in the Macomb cases and described the incidents as evidence of a broader pattern of violence at the facility during that period.

The three major MDOC cases illustrate how lawsuits involving the state’s prison system can arise from both inmate safety and employee protections.

The corrections department was not the only state agency facing significant litigation costs during the fiscal year.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services paid approximately $4.2 million in judgments and settlements, an increase of about $3.9 million from the previous year.

The largest DHHS payout was a $3.5 million class-action settlement involving allegations that the state failed to provide mental health services to children who were eligible for Medicaid.

The Department of Corrections continues to face other significant litigation beyond the cases reflected in the 2025 payouts.

A class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 by inmates at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility alleges prolonged exposure to toxic black mold. The state has disputed the allegations, citing testing and reports that it says found fungal spore levels within safe ranges and only slightly above outdoor levels.

That lawsuit remains pending.

More recently, current and former state employees sued the department alleging that former corrections officer Gerald Burton harassed and sexually assaulted them. Burton resigned from MDOC in 2024 after being convicted of multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct involving five women.

The continuing litigation means the department’s legal exposure could change substantially from year to year.

For fiscal 2024-25, however, the nearly $7 million in MDOC judgments and settlements stood out against a statewide decline in legal payouts.

The cases involving the Macomb Correctional Facility and Rushing’s disability claim made up the overwhelming majority of the department’s total, accounting for roughly $6 million of the $7 million paid.

The figures do not establish wrongdoing in every case or mean every allegation made against the state was proven in court. Some of the largest payments were settlements or mediation agreements reached without a trial verdict.

But the increase in MDOC’s legal costs provides a snapshot of the financial consequences facing the state’s prison system as it deals with allegations involving inmate safety, employee accommodations and conditions inside correctional facilities.