Not everyone always agrees with Nolan Finley, who heads The Detroit News editorial page.
But in this case, you'd be hard-pressed to find many readers disagreeing.
Finley writes that the state of Michigan should settle lawsuits filed by 11 juvenile prison inmates who want the state to comply with a new federal rape protection law requiring juvenile inmates be separated from adults. For some inexplicable reason, the state is fighting in court.
He writes:
Stubborn or stupid? Or does the state of Michigan really believe it can prevail in lawsuits filed by 11 juvenile prison inmates who charge they weren't protected from being brutalized by adult prisoners?
If it's the latter, then state officials either haven't read the horrific evidence presented in the lawsuits, or learned nothing from a similar suit filed by women inmates and settled in 2009 for $100 million.
That $100 million would fill a lot of potholes.
As reported by The Detroit News, several of the young men claim they were turned into sex slaves while housed in the adult prisons, raped and passed around from inmate to inmate. Some contend they were abused with the knowledge of prison officials, and possibly with their help.
