Overview
- Joshua Lee pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced to 18 months to 15 years by a Washtenaw County judge on Thursday for second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a state prisoner.
- Prosecutors say Lee engaged in multiple sexual acts with several inmates while working at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility and the Michigan State Police referred the case to the attorney general’s office.
- Michigan law currently criminalizes sexual contact by corrections staff but does not explicitly criminalize sexual penetration by staff, so Attorney General Dana Nessel is urging lawmakers to amend statutes to cover penetration explicitly.
- The officer’s conviction comes as the prison faces broader scrutiny in civil litigation and public complaints about medical neglect, repeated inmate deaths, widespread mold in the facility, and allegations that officers misused body cameras to record private moments.
- Thirty bipartisan state lawmakers have demanded the resignation of MDOC Director Heidi Washington, who has declined to step down and says the department is investigating while litigation and other probes continue.