Court Opinion

ID: 9685098
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:23:04.258231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:02.290375
License: Public Domain

M. F. Cavanagh, J.
(dissenting). I disagree with the majority’s interpretation of MCL 791.262; MSA 28.2322. I believe the statute clearly imposes the duty upon the Department of Corrections to supervise and inspect local jails and to promulgate rules and standards pertaining to the management and administration of those jails. I also disagree with the majority’s statement that "[a] party does not control premises when its control may only be exercised through court action”. The court action referred to is simply a means of assuring the control but presumably would only be resorted to *746after the department makes rules and the local jails fail to follow them. I am also persuaded that MCL 791.262, in requiring the department to promulgate rules with respect to the proper management and humane administration of local jails, contemplates a greater role for the department than that of just a regulator. Finally, I do not read Green v Dep’t of Corrections, 386 Mich 459; 192 NW2d 491 (1971), to require that plaintiff be a state-sentenced prisoner before the department has any duty to him. The language of the statute makes no reference to such a limitation.
I would reverse.