West Virginia MetroNews - With the 2021 legislative session in West Virginia just weeks away, criminal justice reform is being discussed and priorities are taking shape during a summit in West Virginia. Read the full article. American Friends Service Committee, WV Council of Churches, WV Center on Budget and Policy, ACLU-WV, and Appalachian Prison Book…
Criminal Justice
February 10 marks the beginning of West Virginia’s 85th Legislature, and with this session lawmakers will have the opportunity to build upon their 2020 criminal justice reform efforts. The following are the criminal justice priorities for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Immediately Protect Incarcerated People and Correctional Facility Staff Evidence is clear…
Dominion Post - Counties in West Virginia are responsible for a lot of bills — including the cost of housing inmates from the county being held in regional jails. That makes the 81% increase in inmate population from 2000-2019 a problem for some counties. Read the full article. That population increase was one finding in…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - More than half of the correctional employees in West Virginia have opted out of taking the COVID-19 vaccine, despite being prioritized by state health officials. Read the full article. They work with more than 9,800 incarcerated people who have not been prioritized in the state’s vaccine rollout plan, against a…
West Virginia Press Association - Because county governments must ultimately pay the costs associated with keeping people behind bars in their local jails, the explosion of county jail incarceration is driving enormous and growing pressure on county budgets. Read the full article. County spending on jails is rising, and the amount billed to counties by…
Registration is live! Over the course of four days, participants at the West Virginia Criminal Justice Reform Summit will attend sessions exploring the significance of poverty before, during, and after incarceration. In addition to a wide variety of panels, there will be skill-building workshops as well as ample opportunity for participants to connect with one another.…
For Immediate Release: January 06, 2021Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV - Between 2000 and 2019, West Virginia’s jail population increased by a staggering 81 percent, from approximately 2,853 inmates to 5,172, even as the state’s population shrunk in the same period. This follows the longer trend of mass incarceration in West Virginia and the United States…
Introduction Because county governments must ultimately pay the costs associated with keeping people behind bars in their local jails, the explosion of county jail incarceration is driving enormous and growing pressure on county budgets. County spending on jails is rising, and the amount billed to counties by the Regional Jail Authority is rising even more…
Charleston Gazette-Mail, Huntington Herald-Dispatch, Governing - Since Dec. 1, there have been COVID-19 outbreaks in five of West Virginia’s regional jails and at least four correctional centers. Read the full article. During that time, at least 833 inmates in the 10 regional jails throughout West Virginia tested positive for the virus, and three outbreaks in…
As COVID-19 cases rise across the country and throughout the state, West Virginia’s correctional facilities continue to be at heightened risk of outbreaks. Outbreaks are particularly concerning in these facilities because incarcerated people tend to have both more health challenges and less access to quality medical care than the general populace. With the state entering…