Criminal Legal System

January 7, 2021 by WVCBP
West Virginia Criminal Justice Reform Summit – Poverty and the Criminal Justice System

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.…

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January 6, 2021 by WVCBP
New Brief Highlights Explosive Growth of Jail Incarceration in West Virginia and Counties’ Difficulty Paying Their Regional Jail Bills

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…

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January 6, 2021 by Quenton King
Overcrowded and Overburdened: West Virginia Counties Struggle to Pay Regional Jail Bills

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…

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January 5, 2021 by Quenton King
WV’s Jails Have Been More Than 1,300 People Over Capacity Since Dec. 1, and More Than 800 Inmates Contracted COVID During That Time

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…

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December 21, 2020 by Quenton King
Decarceration Needed to Protect Correctional Facilities from COVID-19 Spread

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…

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December 10, 2020 by WVCBP
New Report Examines Alarming Rise of Women’s Incarceration in WV; Explores Causes, Consequences, and Solutions

For Immediate Release: December 10, 2020Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV - Over the past 40 years, the mass incarceration of women in West Virginia has exploded, growing by a staggering 2,731 percent from 1978 to 2019. The incarceration rate of women far exceeds the incarceration rate of men in the Mountain State, and in 2019, West…

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November 19, 2020 by Quenton King
New West Virginia Criminal Law Coalition Website Tracks Jail Populations and Cost for Counties

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, West Virginia law enforcement and corrections officials moved quickly to reduce jail and prison populations. And while the prison population has remained lower than normal, since April, the jail population has steadily increased and was more than 35 percent overcapacity as of November 12. Among the reasons for the burgeoning…

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October 27, 2020 by Seth DiStefano
Despite Judge’s Ruling, West Virginia Won’t Immediately Distribute Stimulus Checks to Those Incarcerated

Mountain State Spotlight - Despite a federal judge’s ruling, West Virginia has no immediate plans to distribute federal stimulus checks to people incarcerated in the state’s jails and prisons. Read the full article. The federal government sent many Americans $1,200 checks earlier this year, through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. But for months, the…

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