Aydon’s story

Imagine being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, fighting for your life through chemotherapy, and undergoing a total colectomy while in custody—without your family by your side or even knowing whether you survived surgery.

This was the harrowing reality for Aydon Bannister, a young Michigan man who was terminally ill while being held in a Michigan county jail awaiting trial. Because he had not been convicted of a crime, he remained entitled to the presumption of innocence, yet he was subjected to conditions no terminally ill patient should ever endure.

While incarcerated, Aydon missed multiple chemotherapy appointments, went without prescribed medications when they were not administered as directed, and returned to jail after a major, life-altering surgery without overnight nursing staff on duty to monitor his recovery. During one of the most critical moments of his life, his family was barred from receiving updates on whether his surgery had even been successful.

Aydon’s story exposed a gap in Michigan’s policies that could affect any terminally ill person held in jail before trial.
No person facing a terminal illness should be systematically isolated from their family when safe, supervised options are available.

What is Aydon’s Law?

Aydon’s Law would establish minimum statewide standards for compassionate family access and continuity of medical care for individuals diagnosed with a terminal illness who are held in Michigan jails while awaiting trial.

Because pretrial detainees have not been convicted, they generally cannot seek the same compassionate-release options that may be available to sentenced prisoners. Aydon’s Law would require Michigan jails to create an expedited compassionate family access process while strengthening safeguards to help ensure medically necessary care continues without avoidable interruption.

We are asking Michigan lawmakers, sheriffs, county leaders, and correctional officials to support Aydon’s Law by establishing the following protections:

•  Supervised hospital visitation for approved immediate family members.
•  A 24–48 hour review process for urgent situations involving a terminally ill individual.
•  A physician-triggered compassionate access review upon confirmation of a terminal illness.
•  Written reasons whenever family access is denied.
• Emergency court review for pretrial detainees when compassionate access requests are denied or delayed.
• Security measures that protect public safety without automatically denying family presence.
• Protection against unnecessary delays, cancellations, or interruptions of chemotherapy, surgeries, palliative care, hospice care, prescribed medications, and other medically necessary treatment related to a terminal illness.
• Written documentation and prompt rescheduling whenever a medically necessary appointment, treatment, or medication related to a terminal illness is delayed or missed.
•  A process allowing the patient, when legally permitted, to authorize family members to receive basic medical updates during major hospitalization, surgery, critical illness related to a terminal illness, or end-of-life care.
•  Clear medical staffing and monitoring protocols following hospitalization or major surgery for individuals diagnosed with a terminal illness.

This reform does not remove security. It does not ignore criminal cases. It simply recognizes that terminal illness changes everything.

Aydon’s Law would help ensure that medically necessary care is not compromised by preventable delays, communication failures, transportation issues, staffing shortages, or inconsistent policies. It would also help ensure that families are not shut out during the most painful and time-sensitive moments of their loved one’s life when safe, supervised options are available.

Time with family, access to medically necessary care, and basic communication during a terminal illness should not depend on inconsistent policies or individual discretion alone.

Aydon should not have had to face a terminal diagnosis alone. His family should not have had to wonder whether he survived surgery, whether he was receiving his prescribed medications, or whether he was getting the care his condition required.

By signing this petition, you can help ensure that terminally ill individuals held in Michigan jails are treated with dignity, compassion, and continuity of care during life’s most difficult moments. Support Aydon’s Law so that no other family has to endure what ours did.