Charleston Gazette-Mail, Huntington Herald-Dispatch - With jail costs bearing down on county commissions in West Virginia, a legislative committee drafted a bill Friday that would play a part in decreasing how much county governments pay to incarcerate people. Read the full article. The House of Delegates Committee on Jails and Prisons adopted a bill that…
Criminal Legal System
WCHS TV - The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy hosted its annual Budget Breakfast on Friday. Watch the full segment. It marks the ninth time the breakfast has been held. Organizers conduct the event during the legislative session each year. The event provides a chance for lawmakers to analyze the governor's proposed budget…
At our 2022 Budget Breakfast on January 21, Justice Reform Strategies' Brian Elderbroom presented on how West Virginia can improve community supervision practices to safely address the state’s current incarceration crisis. You can download Brian's keynote PowerPoint presentation here. You can watch the full Budget Breakfast recording here.
Media Advisory: January 19, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 304-720-8682 Charleston, WV – As the 2022 legislative session gets underway, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy would like to invite you to join us at our 9th annual Budget Breakfast, taking place this Friday, January 21 at 8:00am EST. Each year, the WVCBP holds this event to provide…
For Immediate Release: January 11, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – West Virginia is a national outlier in regard to rising incarceration. From 2009 to 2019, West Virginia’s imprisonment rate grew 10 percent while the state imprisonment rate fell 16 percent nationally. This rapid growth in incarceration has continued unabated during the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating dangerous overcrowding…
This issue brief was written for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy by Brian Elderbroom. Elderbroom is the founder and president of Justice Reform Strategies, a consulting firm providing policy, communications, and management support to organizations committed to improving the criminal justice system. He is a national expert on sentencing and corrections policy…
Davis Vanguard - Across the United States, multiple states, including West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and New Jersey are attempting to reform their money bail system. Read the full article. During the COVID-19 pandemic, inmate releases to alleviate confined prison conditions made the disease less deadly. And, coincidentally, the pandemic releases show confinement and bail are…
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number of people incarcerated in prisons who were age 55 or older increased 400% between 1993 and 2013 nationwide, with those age 55 or older making up 10 percent of the total prison population in 2013. West Virginia has seen a similar trend in recent years. According…
Marshall Project - Nearly two million adults were incarcerated across the country, according to the 2020 Decennial Census. The latest figures show a 13% drop in the total number of incarcerated people, or nearly 300,000 fewer people, compared with the 2010 Census. Read the full article. Roughly one-third of the drop in total numbers occurred…
Point Pleasant Register - The West Virginia Reentry Councils organization is now hosting meetings for the Mason County area to help support those coming out of incarceration and help them rejoin the community. Read the full article. West Virginia Reentry Councils is a group established by the West Virginia Council of Churches with the goal…