WDTV - A class-action lawsuit focuses on conditions in West Virginia prisons, namely an overcrowding issue that has been increasing since 2000. Read the full article. The lawsuit claims that between 2000 and 2009 West Virginia’s prison population more than doubled, the leading growth rate in the nation. And from 2018 to 2022 that got…
Criminal Justice
West Virginia MetroNews - West Virginia has long had a problem with overcrowding in its jails, and that problem hasn’t gone away. Read the full article. Overcrowding is a through-line in a class action lawsuit about conditions in the jails, a root with other problems branching out. The lawsuit underscores that between 2000 and 2009 West Virginia’s…
Despite officials denying overcrowding in West Virginia's regional jail system, our research reveals that nearly one-third of people in our state's jails are assigned to sleep on the floor. Download the full fact sheet here.
For 21 months our state has been embroiled in a preventable jail crisis. During that time, lawmakers never asked for testimony from people living behind bars. They never asked for testimony from the parents, spouses, or children of people living behind bars. Only once did they hear from two people who had been previously incarcerated.…
In March 2022, Governor Jim Justice announced that he had directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate Southern Regional Jail (SRJ). In the days leading up to the governor’s announcement, media reports described horrifying conditions at the Raleigh County jail: filthy and broken accommodations, people sleeping on wet floors, violence against incarcerated people…
West Virginia Watch, Cumberland Times-News - Millions of dollars will be released to county commissions across the state by the end of this year as part of their share of opioid settlement funds, and now local leaders are grappling with a tough decision: whether or not to use the influx of cash to get ahead…
Mountain State Spotlight - West Virginians are still held in jails where conditions can be brutal, nasty and deadly. Read the full article. In just the past four years, 85 people have died in custody, more than a quarter of them at the Southern Regional Jail alone. Overcrowding has led to lawsuits that allege people…
The Dominion Post - Gov. Jim Justice has made an art form out of speaking much but saying little, and his meaningless verbal abstractions were on full display at a news briefing earlier this month as he non-answered questions about West Virginia jails' myriad problems. If you sifted through enough of the ramblings and Justice-isms,…
West Virginia MetroNews - Gov. Jim Justice has called for a reexamination of conditions in West Virginia’s jails along with an internal investigation, although it’s not completely clear what the focus will be. Read the full article. Justice described wanting a closer look at the jail system during a news briefing earlier this month. The state had…
This guest blog post was authored by Brent Radabaugh. Brent is serving a life with mercy sentence at Huttonsville Correctional Center. He is a graduate of the Bible College, a peer mentor, and a proud father of two young men. There was a time in my life when I don’t think I could have changed…