On December 7, 2008, the US District Court for the Western District of Michigan ruled that the Michigan Department of Corrections was in contempt of court for failing to conform with medical care requirements mandated by the court in a prior ruling. The court had ordered the department to correct its medication and staff deficiencies on or before February 1, 2007, and submit a staffing plan within 90 days or face $2 million in fines. Judge Richard Enslen wrote that the court would not deny "an injunction to inmates who plainly proved an unsafe, life-threatening condition" and that a prisoner "does not deserve... a de facto and unauthorized death penalty at the hands of a callous and dysfunctional health care system" within the prison.



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