West Virginia Watch - The state NAACP has filed a lawsuit against three West Virginia departments, alleging they failed to collect data meant to improve the juvenile justice system. Read the full article. The organization filed the lawsuit Thursday in Kanawha County Circuit Court. The complaint lists as defendants the state Department of Homeland Security,…
Criminal Legal System
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - There’s a serious labor shortage in the U.S. right now with millions of jobs going unfilled. Each year, West Virginia releases 50,000 people from state prisons and local jails and all those people need jobs. Read the full article. On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay spotlights a recent…
A contextual note from the WVCBP: The most important criminal law bill of the 2024 West Virginia legislative session got little attention from lawmakers. Senate Bill 736, the Second Look Sentencing Act, would have given judges the authority to review long sentences in cases where a person has served at least 10 years for an…
Over the last two years, West Virginians have learned about horrifying conditions inside our state jails and prisons. Thanks to the courage and diligence of people closest to these problems, we have seen past the walls. Residents served rotten or undercooked food. Cells with “broken toilets, busted windows, no hot water, exposed electrical wires and…
New Yorker - On a snowy day in late January, Zach Shrewsbury, a thirty-two-year-old Marine Corps veteran, picked me up in his battered Chrysler 300, near the West Virginia state capitol. Our first stop was a gas station, where Shrewsbury bought a gallon of wiper fluid and, because his wiper hose had broken the night…
Each year, tens of thousands of people will enter a West Virginia jail or prison. Each day, officials within these facilities make decisions that shape the lives of each person incarcerated. A facility will decide when and how to provide medical care; whether to approve a spouse’s visitation request; if a person will be able…
Public News Service - Amid overcrowding and unsafe conditions in West Virginia jails, state lawmakers introduced bills that would allow judges to take a 'second look' at an individual's original sentence. Read the full article. If a court determines they no longer pose a threat to the community, the person could be released, placed on…
Ahead of the 2024 legislative session, there seemed to be broad consensus among lawmakers, Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) officials, and the public that addressing multiple crises in our criminal system should be a priority. On the surface, legislators seemed ready to take action. Over the course of the 2024 regular session, more than…
Mountain State Spotlight - On Feb. 9, 20-year-old Desarae Godsey died during a stint at the Southern Regional Jail, adding another name to the growing list of people who have died at West Virginia’s deadliest jail. Read the full article. An hour west on I-64 and a day earlier, delegates on the House Committee on Jails and…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - The West Virginia Senate approved a bill in a 23-9 vote Friday that would bar magistrates from releasing defendants charged with a felony on a personal recognizance bond, which allows a defendant to be released from jail without posting bail. Read the full article. The ban, which is poised to create more…