134 people died in Missouri prisons last year. ‘No one wants to address the problem’
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Ten days before Christmas, LaShon Hudson got a phone call from a Missouri prison official, who told her that her 30-year-old son was dead.
Since then, the Kansas City woman says she has received little information from the Missouri Department of Corrections.
“No one’s giving me answers and it’s killing me,” she said during a phone interview this week with The Star.
Michael Hudson was one of 134 prisoners to die in the Missouri Department of Corrections in 2023, according to data from the department.
The number of deaths in the state’s correctional facilities has prompted outcry from advocates who say the department is failing in its responsibility to provide adequate medical care and prevent violence and drug overdoses.
Michelle Smith, founder of the Missouri Justice Coalition, called on the corrections department and elected officials to take steps to improve conditions.
“It literally is a problem,” Smith said. “And no one wants to address the problem.”
The organization on Wednesday held a memorial at the Capitol building in Jefferson City to raise awareness about the number of prisoners who died last year.
“These families have lost sons, daughters, wives, husbands,” Smith said. “Our Missouri DOC is just void of any type of empathy or compassion, not only for people inside of prisons, but for their family members as well. And it’s a really sad state. So we did the memorial to center them, to amplify and support them.”
Hudson was a prisoner at South Central Correctional Center in Licking, serving a 25-year sentence for assault and armed criminal action.
He was raised in Kansas City. LaShon Hudson said her son loved to explore and learn new things. At times, he had struggled with ADHD, but in 2015, he received his GED in prison and was studying to become a paralegal.
“Michael was a loving young man,” LaShon Hudson said. “He was a protector.”
She said he didn’t like seeing anyone get bullied and was close with his family, especially his grandfather, who frequently visited. On Dec. 15, Michael Hudson’s sister, niece and nephew were planning to visit him in prison.
That was before LaShon Hudson received the call, saying he had died. She said an official with the coroner’s office eventually told her that Michael Hudson had been stabbed multiple times.
Garry Brix, a spokesman for the corrections department, said Hudson’s death was under investigation and he could not comment.
A GoFundMe page has been started to help the family pay for Hudson’s burial.
This story was originally published January 5, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
