Death penalty isn't only way the state kills. Meet Jon Lancaster. Father. Grandfather. Suffered severe mental illness. Yet still caged in solitary. Covered in urine. Feces. Shot w/ pepper balls & pepper spray. Restrained for days. They let him “slowly die in plain sight." More:

Danielle Dunn, Jonathan’s sister, called repeatedly to request medical treatment for Jonathan. She called the morning of his death to inquire again & request medical treatment. She was told he was fine. Within a few hours, she received the call from an officer that he had died.

Jon was locked up for 7 years. For “robbery” for stealing $150 from a 7/11. Took only 2 months from the time Jon was sent to solitary for him to die. January 2019: Transferred to a punitive facility in far northern Michigan. Alger Correctional. Dead by March. Jon & his family:

By March 2019, 2 months into solitary, Jon started exhibiting bizarre behavior w/ paranoia, audio & visual delusions. Had insomnia & stood w/ a blank stare for extended periods. Crouched in a fetal position. Refused meals, fluids & medication. They did nothing. Jon & his mom.

Jonathan lost 51 pounds in just 2 weeks. Michigan Corrections did nothing. Jon and his other daughter when she was much younger: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/01/31/michigan-prison-staff-ignored-inmate-before-death-lawsuit-says/4626204002/

When Jon became non-responsive, Michigan finally did something. Officers shot an entire can of pepper spray in addition to 4 pepper balls into his cell for an extraction. He was unable to move or articulate words. Transferred him to an observation room. Jon during happier times:

According to the Michigan Department of Corrections’ (MDOC) own report: Jon spent 4 days in restraints on a bed and 4 hours in a restraint chair. He was incontinent and further. Jon & his brother, David.

According to the Michigan Dept of Corrections (MDOC) own report: Jon wasn’t eating or drinking all of the days in the observation cell. Was laying in his own urine, drooling on himself & not responding to the nurses. He only moaned or mumbled incoherently. Jon & daughter fishing:

Corrections was aware of Jon’s health issues. Refused him hospital treatment though they were aware of his anxiety, chest pain, & mental health issues. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression & anti-personality disorder. Jon's daughter. Growing up. Visiting him early on:

Jonathan Lancaster died of dehydration & starvation while strapped to a restraint chair in an observation room in solitary. Indifference & cruelty killed him. This is a picture of his granddaughter, shared today with permission by Jon’s daughter. Jon never got to meet her.

Jon’s sister filed a claim for wrongful death. The lawsuit is about to be settled. But nothing has been done to address the systemic issues that allowed this to happen, and none of the people involved have been held accountable. More on those systemic issues:

Solitary confinement in Michigan is known torture with no time limit, and for people like Jon with mental illness, it often means a death sentence.

Solitary is a microcosm of the system, a prison inside a prison where we house the people deemed most expendable to our society. In Michigan, Black people are 14% of the free-world population but over 40% of the prison population, and are over 70% of of the solitary population.

People in solitary in Michigan are often held in remote, rural prisons in the Upper Peninsula where the staff is nearly 100% white. Racially charged abuses, both physical and verbal, are commonly reported.

During COVID, not only has Michigan specifically not provided any relief for a bloated prison system that cages people, on average, 40% longer than most other states, they have profoundly increased solitary usage as a means of “quarantine.”

Hundreds, possibly thousands of people throughout the state have fought COVID-19 alone, hallucinating, battling the torturous conditions of solitary and a pandemic that has killed 124 people caged in Michigan since March.

TAKE ACTION: Please sign this letter on behalf of Jonathan Lancaster. Died of dehydration and neglect in segregation at Alger Correctional Facility in Michigan. No family should have to go through what Jon's family has been through. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Q7lHIFv81GHVEfbF13o9vkhHIuLCTzd8YSokAdL42zo/edit?ts=600061a6&gxids=7628