Family Of Inmate Who Died Recognized For Dedicated Pursuit Of Justice

It took five years for the family of a man who died in the custody of jail guards to find justice. On Thursday, they were recognized by a legal advocacy group for their perseverance. 

Zachary Bailey died shortly after he was brought to the North Central Regional Jail near Parkersburg in July 2019. A family attorney says the family was told he died from an overdose. 

After a tumultuous, drawn-out case, the family won a settlement against the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation last year after testimony found Bailey died from positional asphyxia – during a beating.

“At trial, a medical doctor ultimately testified that the cause of death was positional asphyxia, the same thing that killed George Floyd, and we were able, in trial, under cross examination, to get these guards to finally admit that they had laid on top of him,” said family attorney Jesse Forbes. 

“One of them testified that they had laid on top of Zachary for minutes and minutes while he was turning blue, begging for his life. That guard said he ultimately heard what he called a death rattle, and the other captain of the facility at that time was punching him, according to the testimony, was kicking him, calling him names, telling him he wasn’t so tough as the life ran out of his body.”

Following that testimony, the state agreed to a $1 million settlement, the maximum allowed under West Virginia law.

Forbes, who is also a vice president with the West Virginia Association for Justice, was chosen to present the family with its Advocacy For Justice Award on Thursday.

“Just last week, we had a federal judge put jail guards in prison for a very long time for a similar issue, and those are things you didn’t see five years ago. And so every brave family like the Bailey family that steps forward and is willing to go through these types of emotional, long, civil justice battles, makes it better for someone else,” Forbes said.

The West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined a request for comment.