Six Years of Dying Behind Bars: State-reported Deaths in West Virginia Jails and Prisons, 2020–2025

Overview

In 2025, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy (WVCBP) created The Quantez Burks Report, the first-ever public database of people who died in West Virginia jails and prisons. The WVCBP named the project for Mr. Burks, a 37-year-old Raleigh County man killed by Southern Regional Jail staff in March 2022. The WVCBP updates the online database each month with information provided by the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) through public records requests.

Read the full fact sheet.

Over a span of six years, at least 344 people died in West Virginia jails, prisons, and community corrections facilities. The years at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – 2020 and 2021 – were the deadliest for people behind bars. Deaths declined each of the next three years. But 2025 was the deadliest year behind bars since the pandemic, with deaths increasing 44.4 percent over 2024.

This is a snapshot of state-reported deaths in custody over the last six years. Our findings include:

• From 2009–2019, West Virginia had the highest jail mortality rate in the country, at 2.2 deaths per 1,000 people. In 2025, that rate had climbed to 3.7.
• One in four people who died were legally innocent and awaiting trial. 55.2 percent of people who died in jail awaiting trial had died in the first 10 days behind bars.
• Two of the ten regional jails – North Central and Southern – accounted for 43.1 percent of all jail deaths due to overdose, suicide, homicide, and accident.
• 75.2 percent of deaths by medical illness occurred in prisons, whereas 85.5 percent of unnatural deaths (homicide, suicide, alcohol or drugs, or accident) occurred in jails.

Notably, there are additional deaths the state has not reported. In 2025, the WVCBP uncovered the death of 31-year-old Marissa Crim. DCR has never reported her death in custody at Northern Regional Jail despite a court filing that plainly states, “Jail informed defendant died in custody.” The WVCBP will continue to track unreported deaths like Ms. Crim’s and address those in future publications.

Read the full fact sheet.

To this day, DCR does not tell us the names of people who died inside their facilities. But with the help of loved ones, news reports, court records, and incarcerated people, the WVCBP has been able to put a name to nearly every person who died in the state’s custody. In many cases, these names led us to their obituaries, filled with photos and remembrances from loved ones. These obituaries give us glimpses of the lives lost – the people they loved, the work they did, the activities that brought them joy. We can recognize ourselves in these people who died. We share some of their memory in our blog post here.