Khaira Howard, 28, died in 2026 in Michigan's only women's prison from a blood clot in her lungs. Days before her death, prison staff forced her to clean contaminated ventilation systems without protective equipment while mold fell around her. She reported chest pain. She died in the prison infirmary just days before her scheduled release.

Black mold infests the entire facility. Federal court documented it eating through bricks, dripping from ceilings, falling out of air vents. Nearly 1,800 women are held in a building the state cannot maintain. Healthcare is contracted to private companies that profit by denying care. The contractor changed hands twice in three years when companies went bankrupt. Medical staffing across MDOC is critically short.

As Senator, Lydia will:

• Push federal legislation establishing minimum healthcare standards under the Eighth Amendment, enforceable by conditioning federal DOJ and DOH prison funding on state compliance
• Direct the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to investigate state prisons with documented medical neglect, and support litigation using Section 1983 to hold states and contractors accountable
• Condition federal prison funding on states establishing independent medical decision-making separate from custody staff and prohibitions on using incarcerated people for dangerous work without protective equipment
• Use Senate oversight to investigate DOJ enforcement of existing civil rights law and push for expanded federal resources dedicated to incarcerated people's rights
• Support federal legislation allowing incarcerated people to appeal medical denials in federal court

Incarcerated people are not outside the law's protection. The Eighth Amendment requires adequate medical care. States that fail to provide it should lose federal funding and face federal enforcement.