URGENT URGENT URGENT U.P. Breaking News Bulletin and Ongoing U.P. Prisons Expose – Marquette Branch Prison Scandals Part 2 of 3: – 4-9-18 – 11 a.m. ET –
Over 50 COs were recently banned from prison property, fired or disciplined by Marquette Branch Prison Warden Erica Huss – Corrections officers level serious criminal allegations against the new warden at the Marquette Branch Prison including allegedly ordering official reports to be falsified, intimidation and pitting senior officers and staff against each other
Marquette Branch and other U.P. state prisons are tinderboxes on a powder keg due to extreme hatred by many inmates after they were fed rotten, maggot-infested food and in some cases physically abused by COs – with understaffing one of the worst problems.
By Greg Peterson
U.P. Breaking News
Owner, News Director
906-273-2433
***We are doing layout on Part Three now, should be up within the hour if not sooner.
(Marquette, MI) – In a house-cleaning said to be targeting her enemies and whistle-blowers, the Warden at the Marquette Branch Prison has been firing and banning COs from the property, disciplined many others, and is claimed to have ordered the alleged falsification of official state reports to keep control of the Michigan’s toughest maximum security prison.
Sources says in recent weeks 51 MBP Corrections Officers were “stop ordered” (fire and banned) or received internal punishment and write-ups
The COs say its the latest round of alleged corruption, intimidation, and malfeasance in office. Sources have said the COs, and others she doesn’t suspect, are willing to testify before a federal grand jury, if it is convened by federal prosecutors. The grand jury topics could include alleged corruption by Warden Huss and criminal malfeasance at other U.P. state prisons. Often touted as nearly escape proof, the Marquette prison faces the rocky and unforgiving shores of Lake Superior.
The spartan, aging prison is infamous with the public for housing some of Michigan’s most vicious, cold-blooded, maniacal and hated killers plus sadistic torture-loving rapists, yet it is also infamous with inmates because of the harsh winter weather, cold cells, and the thick, swampy and bug-infested perimeters that stretch on seemingly forever if you are mired in its grip. However, its also houses inmates with short records and non-violent charges like burglary and drugs – and that description matches that 30-year-old MBP inmate who inexplicably died in segregation about a year and a half ago.
Here are just some of the allegations at the Marquette Branch Prison made in a communique by corrections officers and obtained by U.P. Breaking News:
Corrections officers not allowed to inspect kitchen areas where inmates and kitchen staff have sex, would-be “nightmare scenario” involving a MDOC Sargent, warden allegedly threatens her under-bosses to influence official reports including an incident during which pepper spray used by a CO to stop an inmate hanging are among numerous allegations that have surfaced in an all-out war between the COs, administration and inmates at the scandal-plagued Marquette Branch Prison.
And all that is just the tip of the iron iceberg.
U.P. Breaking News has long-reported that understaffing in U.P. state prisons is such a critical problems it adds to extreme inmate abuse, plus CO and staff turnover, and a fear by all sides that a bloody inmate takeover could breakout at any second that would make the devastating Kinross riot look like a day in the park (see Part 3 for details).
MBP officers are not “allowed to enter certain areas of the Level 5 (maximum security) kitchen” including the offices, commissary and coolers. However, while the COs are banned, the prisoners and Trinity food service employees were allowed to frequent those places. The Trinity Food Services Group was finally fired by the Governor in the past month – years after he first learned of the company’s twisted reputation, and its cruel and unusual food complete with maggots.
What mystery lurks where the mystery meat is made? The answer: Sex. Then kitchen staff naïve enough to fall for the inmate’s lies – find themselves blackmailed by prisoners – and that leads to smuggling contraband into the prison.
“Normally custody staff have access to every area inside the (prison) facility to ensure safety and security,” states the communique from current, former and retired COs. “The only way officers are allowed to gain entry” to conduct a “shakedown” of the area is with prior “shift command approval.” Afraid of the warden, MBP shift command never allows those shakedowns – where the inmates and Trinity workers did their business.
MBP shift commanders walked around terrified about possible “backlash by the warden” – and not unlike U.P. reporters – have been taught absolute obedience or suffer swift retribution due to corruption.
For some reason the Warden doesn’t care if the Trinity Food Service employees and the inmates are playing footsie. Oh yeah, maybe it is because she married an inmate rapist.
COs fear that food service employees not only have sex with inmates – canoodling is widely-known to be rampant across the MDOC – as Trinity workers fall for the fake sweet-talk from prisoners.
Then, if one food worker gets mad at the prison or has been completely duped by a con-artist inmate – that’s when a weapon could be smuggled in. Especially now that Trinity workers are being let go – and some already have secrets that that make them putty in the greedy hands of inmates – who threaten to tell if the worker doesn’t do even more illegals things for their one-time inmate lovers.
The COs list numerous acts of alleged “intimidation and corruption” by Warden Huss just this year including “major incidents” that were “mishandled.”
The COs say one of the worst was “covering up a sergeants potentially deadly mistake.”
The COs claim that a MBP sergeant ordered a CO to put himself into a “nightmare scenario” that is feared by law enforcement officers – and banned at all prisons – no ifs, ands or buts.
In fact, its unspeakable when you think what could have happened – inmates get gun, kill the COs in prison vehicle, and go on armed rampage though Marquette County.
There is a reason that no guns are allowed behind the prison doors or in prison vans/vehicles – because studies show that the guns are often taken from officers/guards by inmates looking for their chance – and that’s the nightmare scenario.
Nevertheless, the CO and sergeant sat with inmates in a moving prison vehicle – with pile of guns and ammo near convicts.
“A sergeant gave an order for an officer to sit in the back of a (prison) transportation vehicle with an inmate while having .45 caliber rounds, a handgun, and a can of pepper spray during a transportation run back to the prison,” said the COs communique obtained by U.P. Breaking News.
“This was potentially a ‘worst case scenario” for the officers, the sergeant and the public,” the COs state.
“The inmate was in a truck with two loaded guns, and 90 (.45 cal.) rounds at his disposal at an arms reach,” the COs stated. “The other officer had .45 caliber rounds, a gun, and pepper spray while the sergeant has a taser and pepper spray.”
And if the inmates took the vehicle they would be dressed and ready to cause horror and grief in many places. The prisoner would have “three uniforms and a state vehicle to run away with.”
Then Warden Huss allegedly covered up the incident for the sergeant but makes examples out of the corrections officers, the COs claim.
“The entire state is lucky nobody was hurt or killed,” the COs stated. “The warden dusts this incident under the rug for the sergeant with no write-up, demotion, suspension, or termination.”
“But one officer (the driver) has been disciplined and the other “ is/was under investigation, the communique states.
Ironically, those punished corrections officers were the same COs who questioned the sergeant when he made the potentially catastrophic decision before the ride back to MBP, the COs state.
Remember prisons are run in a military-like structure, so questioning the sergeant’s decision at the time took guts even if it fell on deaf ears.
“The corrections officers involved even questioned the supervisor’s decision-making at the scene,” the COs stated.
And in another incident this year, a corrections officer used pepper spray to stop an inmate from hanging himself.
The MBP corrections officer “used his chemical agent (pepper spray) to stop a prisoner from hanging himself in his cell,” the COs said. “Immediately after the incident took place – video footage of the incidence was reviewed in the MBP Control Center.”
Present during the video viewing was an assistant deputy warden, who said that the incident was handled appropriately and there was no need for a report or investigation regarding the matter.”
The COs said Warden Huss hit the roof – and disciplined a CO – while keeping her officers and administration happy by not filing a charge higher up the prison food chain.
“Days later Warden Huss went to the shift commander that was on duty when the assistant deputy warden addressed the situation,” the communique reads. “”She told him (shift commander) she wanted a full investigation and incident report.”
The COs claim that’s when Warden Huss allegedly threatened one of her Lieutenants – the shift commander – with his job if he did not participate in an alleged coverup.
“She threatened the Lieutenant, saying that he needed to leave the assistant deputy warden’s name and what they said – out of the report, – or he would be disciplined for failure to report the incident and his career would be in jeopardy,” the statement reads.
“The officer who did his job the way he was trained has since been placed on a Stop Order and isn’t allowed on the property,” the COs stated. Meanwhile sources say its just one of 50 Stop Orders she has issued.
Warden Huss “has been using her position of power to threaten staff with their jobs and income to get certain ‘Critical Incidents’ written a certain way,” the COs said.
U.P. Breaking News believes that prison officials have the duty to release the footage – so the public can decide. And we mean without the usual unnecessary delays and hassles of filing a Freedom of Information Act request. After all, they charged a CO a half million dollars ($500,000) for requesting a few emails involving the MBP top brass. MDOC and MBP hired him – but completely dislike yours truly for exposing scandal after scandal at the Marquette prison – maybe that tape would cost us $1 Million Dollars.
Just this week, a prisoner at MBP as taken to the hospital for undisclosed reasons.
In the past week, U.P. prison inmate have been taken to the hospital by ambulances for reasons that included “chest pains,” seizures and one suspected drug overdose in the eastern U.P.
Read Part 3 to learn about terror on both sides of the prison bars:
U.P. Breaking News has long reported on the abuses on both sides of thee bars at Upper Peninsula Prisons.
This includes lawsuits outlining how guards have physically and verbally abused U.P. inmates – to the state treating its corrections officers like a dispensable targets by cutting prison staff to extremely dangerous levels, to feeding the inmates maggots that causes anger at COs and so much more.
Being a CO in Michigan is so horrible, the state doesn’t even give them a pension – a thing that gutless union bosses allowed to happen during contract bargaining.Upper Peninsula maximum security prisons are tinder-kegs ready to explode – and the state just doesn’t seem to care. If a CO or prisoner dies, big deal.- there are many more of each.
Being a corrections officer – is often said to be the state’s worst and most dangerous jobs – while the negative physiological affect on COs has led to horrible abuse to U.P. prisons.
Its a revolving door of hate, violence and mistrust that will soon leaves inmates, corrections officers and others dead.
We also revealed that the Marquette Branch prison new warden – was the first warden in Michigan history to marry a sex offender.
The three-story building – including the upstairs apartments – were filled with smoke 
It is not clear if the victim was a dancer/performer or a customer.
Numerous sources tell U.P. Breaking News that 41-year-old Marshall Dion Thomas of L’Anse, Michigan is a KBIC tribal cop, but it is not clear if he has been suspended or fired. U.P. Breaking News still working our sources to nail down what the nature of the criminal investigation.
This is at least the second illegal fishing probe launched in the U.P. By the feds in recent years – as a federal sting operations led to charges of people across northern Michigan and northeast Wisconsin in the winter of 2015. It included long-term informants, wires and the closing of businesses.
Upper Peninsula Breaking News by Greg Peterson 