Michigan Disability Resistance

Coming to grips with never again being able to work because of a debilitating disease or injury can gnaw at one’s self-worth.

But 51-year-old John Tovar of Arlington never expected his spiral into full-on depression would come as a result of waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting ... just for the opportunity to state his case to qualify for Social Security disability benefits.

The question of whether the state can be held liable for teens raped in Michigan prisons may turn on a constitutional question: Do prisoners forfeit their civil rights in Michigan when they enter prison?

A three-judge Michigan Court of Appeals panel heard arguments Tuesday in the case of Does v. Michigan Department of Corrections, a civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of young men sent to adult prisons in Michigan when they were under the age of 18. Once inside, the said they were sexually assaulted by adult male prisoners and female prison guards. Corrections officials did little to protect them from harm, the suit says. Attorneys for the state argue that Michigan prisoners have no right under state law to claim civil rights violations.  

The case was filed in 2013 with seven unnamed prisoners and former prisoners, and has grown into a class action involving more than 900 young men who say they were harmed, sexually or otherwise, while forced to live in the general adult prison population.

If the Appeals Court panel rules for the young prisoners, the suit can proceed, which means taxpayers could eventually be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in damages, if a past suit involving women prisoners is any guide.

A parallel case has been filed in federal court, but federal rules bar the collection of damages from the state or state agencies.   

Like other families publicly fighting for their transgender kid and the greater trans community, we get a LOT of angry feedback. We get angry hate-filled messages and letters just about every way we can receive a message, so much so that I’m waiting for a carrier pigeon to drop off some hate mail next. Add in all the angry articles written in response to our family’s advocacy and we know quite well how this very loud portion of the population feels about our parenting and our child.

The messages say all sorts of things, but right now, I want to talk about one of the most common themes: outraged accusations of child abuse for supporting our transgender child. They tell us how our children should be taken away, and we should be prosecuted and put in jail. After a while, it became such a broken record that I went numb to it. These weren’t as bad as those messages threatening violence, so I just began to ignore them. I’d scroll on past the comments or click delete without a twinge of emotion… until New Jersey’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency knocked on my door because someone had reported us.

A California judge could decide Tuesday if Gloria Single will be reunited with her husband, Bill. She's 83 years old. He's 93. The two have been married for 30 years. They lived in the same nursing home until last March, when Gloria Single was evicted without warning.

In court documents, Pioneer House paints a more troubling picture of Gloria Single. They say that she became aggressive with staff and threw some plastic tableware. So Pioneer House called an ambulance and sent her to a hospital for a psychological evaluation. The hospital found nothing wrong with her, but the nursing home wouldn't take her back. They said they couldn't care for someone with her needs.

Jones protested his mother's eviction to the California Department of Health Care Services. The department held a hearing. Jones won.

"I expected action — definitely expected action," says Jones.

Instead, he got an email explaining that the department that holds the hearings has no authority to enforce its own rulings. Enforcement is handled by a different state agency. He could start over with them.

This Catch-22 situation attracted the interest of the legal wing of the AARP Foundation. Last year, attorneys there asked the federal government to open a civil rights investigation into the way California deals with nursing home evictions. Now, they're suing Pioneer House and its parent company on Gloria Single's behalf. It's the first time the AARP has taken a legal case dealing with nursing home eviction.