Criminal Justice Reform Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Us & Them: Locked Out Of Voting?

Millions of people in the U.S. cannot vote because they’ve been convicted of a felony. A majority of those are not currently in prison, but on probation or parole. In this episode, we look at the nation’s patchwork of voting rights laws and the confusion they can create.

More than 4.5 million Americans cannot vote because of a felony conviction but only about a quarter are currently in prison.

On the newest episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay talks with people who support expanded voting rights for felons, and those who say people who’ve committed crimes should forfeit their rights until they serve their entire sentence, including any probation or parole.

Felon disenfranchisement laws differ significantly from state to state and even legal experts say it can be difficult for someone to know their rights. In a few states, a person can vote from prison, while in others, voting rights are restored upon release or completion of parole or probation. Despite recent trends to expand voting rights, some states are moving in the opposite direction. In Florida, voters passed an amendment to restore voting rights to most people with felonies, but lawmakers passed a new law requiring that people pay all of their court fees first. And in Virginia, only the governor can restore the right to vote for someone convicted of a felony.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Anthony Cole, 32, is from Huntington, West Virginia. He was released from prison in May 2023 after serving 12 and a half years for second-degree murder.

“I started life over, I’m living as a productive citizen. I work for the food bank. I’m trying to give back to the community at the same time, as well as feed myself. Like, I’m back into society, I should be able to be a part of society … That’s what our politics and our whole system is off of. [It’s] supposed to be equality … But it feels even less than now because my voice is completely silenced in that matter.”

— Anthony Cole

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Sara Carter is a legal fellow with the Brennan Center, a nonprofit dedicated to civil liberties and voting rights. She tracks nationwide trends and variations in voting laws for felons from state to state. She says in some states, felons can vote no matter what crimes they’ve been convicted of — even from prison. On the other end of the spectrum, in Virginia, for example, those convicted of a felony can only restore their voting rights with an appeal to the governor.

“Everyone should be able to have a say in who governs them, and everyone should be able to be represented, no matter how they choose to exercise that right when it comes to an election.”

— Sara Carter

*Photo Credit: Brennan Center for Justice*

Natalie Delia Deckard is an associate professor of criminology at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.

“There is absolutely no way to talk about voting rights in the United States without talking about the fact that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in not only the world but in world history. We know that incarceration is not sprinkled randomly through the society, it’s not just that men are overwhelmingly more likely to have criminal records. It’s that racialized men are more likely to have criminal records, because of the ways in which we understand crime … It’s also about poverty and class. It’s poor men that go to jail, they go to prison. We absolutely know that class divisions very much predict voting divisions.”

— Natalie Delia Deckard

*Photo Credit: University of Windsor*

Mac Warner is West Virginia’s Secretary of State. He’s running for governor this year as a Republican.

“They have violated the state code, they have committed a criminal offense. And they have shown that they are not worthy at that time, they’ve done something to go against the people of the state of West Virginia. And so we wouldn’t want people who are committing crimes to then be a part of a system that would allow them to vote for someone who may then decide to change and say, ‘These criminal offenses are OK.’ It serves as a deterrent value. So people know that they lose those rights when they commit an offense. And, again, this is just part of the criminal justice system. We all want them to be a part of society, again, with voting rights, but we want them to serve their time for the crime that they committed. There is no effort to suppress votes or to keep somebody from voting.”

— Mac Warner, West Virginia’s Secretary of State

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Mike Stuart was the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. He currently serves in the West Virginia State Senate and is running for state attorney general.

“I know that we live in a period of time, where there’s a heavy emphasis on criminal rights. I support that, too. We’ve got to make sure we treat folks humanely, that we try to be in the business of rehab and rehabilitation and treatment, especially when it comes to the drug scourge. But I’m focused on victims. …I fully support the idea of the restoration of rights, but after you’ve served your entire penance, to society … and that means … not only your time behind bars, but your period of supervised release, if there’s a period of probation, it’s at the end of that entirety, that you ought to get the restoration of rights. West Virginia already does this today. I just think I’m one of those folks that truly believe that there’s a purpose to punishment, we don’t do it to hurt people. We do it for the rehabilitation part … they’re not part-time, or lesser citizens because they don’t have the right to vote. And we didn’t take that right from them. They took it from themselves when they committed the heinous crime, whatever crime it happened to be.”

— Mike Stuart, WV State Senator

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Autumn McCraw was born and raised in West Virginia. She says she used drugs for several years and spent more than two and a half years in prison for felony convictions. After she was released from her most recent incarceration, she went to a recovery residence. She says she hasn’t used drugs in over six years. After she was released from parole, she registered to vote and decided to laminate her voter registration card.

“I opened the card … and I held it in my hand, and I just looked at it and I’m like, ‘I have arrived.’ It was a really emotional moment for me. I cried because I felt like I belonged again. Like I can contribute again. Like this is my ticket back into the forefront of society and not just necessarily in the shadows or in the underbelly.”

— Autumn McCraw

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Us & Them: Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars In West Virginia

America stopped institutionalizing people with mental illness decades ago. But now, many are caught up in a system not meant for them. On this episode of Us & Them, we’ll hear what it’s like to live with mental illness behind bars in the Mountain State.

Overcrowding and understaffing have pushed West Virginia’s prisons and jails to what many believe is a crisis point.

On this episode of Us & Them, we hear what incarceration is like for someone in a mental health crisis. Hundreds of thousands of people with mental illnesses are caught up in a criminal justice system that was never intended to treat them.

In a recent special session, West Virginia lawmakers earmarked $30 million to address staffing shortages and provide pay raises and retention bonuses to correctional staff. There is also $100 million for deferred facility maintenance. However, a new lawsuit against the state on behalf of West Virginia inmates, demands more than three times that amount is needed.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Just Trust, the West Virginia Humanities Council, the CRC Foundation and the Daywood Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Bishop Mark Brennan and Jeff Allen (director of West Virginia Council of Churches) listen to Beverly Sharp (founder of the REACH Initiative in West Virginia) speak at a West Virginia Council of Churches press conference on the subject of the criminal justice system in West Virginia.

*Credit: Kyle Vass*

Lara Lawson is from the town of Milton in Cabell County, W.Va. She has her master’s degree in sociology and is passionate about social justice issues. She has also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and manages that condition. She told Us & Them host Trey Kay about an experience she had during a manic period of her illness when she was placed in Western Regional Jail and deprived of mental health medication. While Lawson says she was not suicidal — she recalls being put in the suicide watch cell for observation.

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Us & Them host Trey Kay met with investigative reporter Mary Beth Pfeiffer at her home in the Hudson Valley of New York to talk about her book Crazy In America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill. Pfeiffer’s book shows how people suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and other serious psychological illnesses are regularly incarcerated because medical care is not available. Once behind bars, she reports that people with mental illness are frequently punished for behavior that is psychotic, not criminal. Pfeiffer’s reporting examines a society that incarcerates its weakest and most vulnerable citizens — causing some to emerge sicker and more damaged.

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Ashley Omps testified at the West Virginia State Capitol before the Senate Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority. She told this group of powerful strangers about the worst experience in her life — a time when she was incarcerated in Eastern Regional Jail after an intense, traumatic event and said she was denied mental health treatment. Omps said it was uncomfortable to share her personal story, but it made a difference. West Virginia law has changed, because people like Ashley took their stories to the capitol.

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Us & Them: Who Gets Stuck Behind Bars In West Virginia?

West Virginia’s state prisons and jails are overcrowded and understaffed. About half of those incarcerated are there because they can’t make their bail. Many are poor and a disproportionate number are Black.

West Virginia’s state prisons and jails are overcrowded and understaffed.

Just over half of those who are incarcerated have not yet been found guilty of a crime, they’re in a cell because they can’t make their bail. Many of those people are poor and a disproportionate number are Black.

On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay takes a look at what contributes to the racial disparities in our justice system. Black people make up about 3.5 percent of West Virginia’s population but 12 percent of the state’s incarcerated population. Why are people of color overrepresented in the criminal justice system?

Join Kay for a visit to arraignment court where the choices made early on play a critical role in how a case proceeds. Bail options are an important point where racial disparities can be on display and when a person’s freedom depends on their access to cash or property, some say Black West Virginians are disproportionately harmed.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the CRC Foundation and The Just Trust.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Since an arraignment is the gateway to any West Virginia jail, *Us & Them* host Trey Kay decided to take a field trip to Magistrate Court in Kanawha County, West Virginia to meet with Magistrate Traci Strickland.

“Somebody’s present in day court every day from 8 a.m. until midnight,” Strickland told Kay. “For individuals who find themselves needing help with the court system or individuals who have found themselves under arrest, who come in for their initial appearance.”

She says several hundred come through in a 24-hour period.

“They can come to day court to request a domestic violence petition, to request a personal safety order for people who are under arrest. They come in to post bonds. They come in with tickets. They come in for a variety of things.”

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

“Pretrial detention has been called the front door of mass incarceration,” says Sara Whitaker, who spent nine years as a public defender in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

“People who are jailed while they’re awaiting trial are more likely to be convicted, more likely to receive a jail or prison sentence upon conviction and more likely to receive a longer sentence than those who are not detained prior to trial,” Whitaker says. “In West Virginia, like in most places, whether you’re jailed prior to your trial or not depends on how much money or wealth you have.”

Whitaker is now a criminal legal policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. She says bail options are some of the first points in the system where racial disparities can be on display.

*Credit: West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy*

Just a few years ago, West Virginia legislators debated proposals to lessen the load on the state’s overpopulated jails. In 2020, one of those proposals became law with bipartisan support in both chambers.

“I think it was mainly intended to cut down on the amount of pretrial misdemeanors that would be warehoused in a county jail simply because they don’t have money. But it didn’t do that,” says Del. Mike Pushkin, a Democrat who represents a large section of Charleston, with a district that’s about 30 percent Black.

He says the bill was intended to encourage magistrates to use more personal recognizance bonds. That’s when the bail is set at zero but a person has to promise to show up for their court date.

*Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography*

Back in February, 2020, when the West Virginia Legislature was debating a number of criminal justice reform bills, this radio ad from Mike Stuart was airing across the state. Stuart was then a U.S. Attorney who says he felt compelled to run what he calls public service announcements to criticize the bail reform measure. Today, Mike Stuart is a Republican state senator representing West Virginia’s 7th district. It’s a rural part of the state, and 96 percent white. He recently announced his candidacy for attorney general. Stuart says he hasn’t seen enough data on the bail reform’s effectiveness, but he’s wary of what he calls a “revolving door” approach to criminal justice.

Mike Stuart is a Republican state senator representing West Virginia’s 7th district. He’s pictured here with *Us & Them* host Trey Kay.

“My solution to prison overcrowding. Build another prison,” Stuart explained to Kay. “If you’ve committed a crime that’s worthy of incarceration, you should be serving your time. I believe in second chances and redemption and I believe you get there. Part of the criminal justice system is punishment. It’s punishment. It’s not all about rehabilitation. There’s a proper role for rehabilitation. But punishment is part of the role, too.”

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Kenny Matthews is quite familiar with West Virginia’s legal system.

He’s originally from Chicago, but back in 2011, he was arrested on drug charges and spent several years incarcerated. About 18 months of his time behind bars was in pre-trial detention. He was there because he was unable to make bail. He had his pretrial hearings and then waited for his trial in West Virginia’s Northern Central Regional Jail.

These days, Matthews works with the American Friends Service Committee as a lobbyist and spends multiple hours during the state’s legislative session speaking to delegates and senators about criminal justice, economic justice and recovery related issues.

“This past legislative session, I almost lived up here and just was talking to senators, delegates, other organizations that had lobbying efforts here at the capitol and were able to get some good bills passed. Some not so good bills killed, and also were able to have some amendments to some bad bills to make them better.”

One of those bills was House Bill 633, on capias reform. Matthews worked with several legislators, including Sen. Mike Stuart.

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Us & Them: Re-Entry

At least 95 percent of people behind bars will be released. Some say a formerly incarcerated person’s successful re-entry into society requires more focus on rebuilding an individual and less on punishment. Criminal justice reform efforts also address a victim-centered approach, but some believe that fundamental change might require addressing past trauma of victims as well as the perpetrators of crimes.

America’s prison system incarcerates millions of people, but at least 95 percent of all state prisoners are released after they serve their sentence. Some struggle to navigate that transition successfully.

On this Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay hears about the challenges of re-entry.

How do we want men and women coming back after prison? How do victim advocates feel about programs designed to help formerly incarcerated people succeed on the outside?

Some suggest an important starting point is to recognize that many of the men and women serving time are victims themselves. Recognizing that trauma may be a powerful step to help people make a new life after they serve their time.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the CRC Foundation, the Daywood Foundation and The Just Trust.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

After 10 years in a Connecticut prison, Daryl McGraw is now a criminal justice reform expert. He has experience in the areas of policy development, contract management and project coordination, as well as collaborating with grassroots peer-advocacy agencies and the Connecticut Department of Corrections. Mr. McGraw is a community organizer, activist and philanthropist. He serves on several boards involving re-entry and criminal justice reform in the state of Connecticut. He consults with law enforcement, universities, policy makers, behavioral health and addiction treatment facilities who are looking to expand their knowledge and expertise in the area of criminal justice reform. McGraw says he re-entered society with a plan for who he wanted to be. He then went on to found Formerly Inc. He says he’s been able to implement some reentry ideas to help other formerly incarcerated people reintegrate. *Credit: C4 Innovations*

Michelle Thompson is Director of Outreach at the Bible Center Church in Charleston, WV. She is participating in a re-entry simulation staged at the West Virginia State Capitol during the 2023 state legislative session. She says that in her job she helps people with all kinds of challenges like getting rental assistance, transportation, and assistance in paying bills. However, this is her first experience in understanding what a formerly incarcerated person experiences when re-entering society. *Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Rahim Buford says he was “caged for 26 years of my life, from age 18 to 44, seven different prisons throughout the state of Tennessee.” He says that people of all ages, faiths, races experience challenges when they re-enter society, and that’s why he started his nonprofit Unheard Voices Outreach. *Courtesy*

Thomas Murphy or “Tom Tom” was incarcerated for 31 years. His story of re-entry has been quite challenging. *Courtesy*

Jeremiah Nelson is with the West Virginia Re-entry Council and the REACH Initiative. REACH stands for “Restore, Empower, Attain Connections with Hope.” They organized the re-entry simulation staged at the West Virginia State Capitol during the 2023 state legislative session. Jeremiah was formerly incarcerated and says for some re-entering society after incarceration, the most important things can be the most basic. Birth certificates, social security cards, IDs and transportation make the difference between surviving in the outside world and landing back inside. In prison, he says a person only makes about a hundred decisions a day. You’re told when and where to do everything. On the outside, life can mean 30,000 decisions a day. *Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Verna Wyatt and Valerie Craig are victims advocates and co-founders of Tennessee Voices for Victims. Wyatt started this work after her sister-in-law, who had been her best friend for 15 years, was raped and murdered. She said her whole world was turned upside down. “I was so angry at people that could do such horrible, despicable things to innocent people that I wanted to prevent that from happening to other people.” *Courtesy*

Resolution Introduced In W.Va. House Calls For More Study Of Sentencing Reform

A bill to rewrite the state’s criminal code won’t go into effect this year.

Senators agreed on Thursday to pass an amended version of House Bill 2017. That new version reversed course and requested that a newly established sentencing commission weigh in on the bill’s provisions.

House leadership decided Thursday afternoon to refer the bill their Judiciary Committee, which has no plans to consider bills for the rest of the session, basically killing that specific piece of legislation.

However, delegates introduced a resolution Thursday that if adopted would have both House and Senate leaders study some of the original bill’s provisions alongside the sentencing commission’s review.

Work on House Bill 2017 first began in April 2020. Delegates who worked on the bill, including lead sponsor Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, have described spending months on what ended up being more than 400 pages of legislation.

Although House Bill 2017 was one of the first introduced, it was among the last to pass the House of Delegates on March 31.

The Senate Judiciary Committee received the legislation with nearly a week left to the legislative session.

“It’s an important and impressive piece of work,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Trump during the committee. “And when I talked to Del. Steele, I think he realizes with a week left of the session when we received it, it was going to be absolutely impossible and impractical for the Senate to take it up in any meaningful way.”

Trump said his committee’s amendments to the bill — downsizing it from roughly 400 pages to a couple — was an effort to not let the conversation “wither and die on the vine.”

The sentencing commission that the bill was referred to was created during the 2020 legislative session.

The commission is a 13-member body under the state Department of Homeland Security’s Division of Justice and Community Services. It consists of prosecutors, public defenders, law enforcement representatives, public officials and those from the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

House Concurrent Resolution 106, introduced Thursday and referred to the House Rules Committee, would also involve members of the Joint Government and Finance Committee in this effort.

But, both chambers must adopt the amendment, should it pass out of the rules committee. The effort has until Saturday.

As it passed the House, the bill revamped most of the offenses in Chapter 61 of state code for “crimes and their punishment.”

Most notably, the bill proposed changes to how people should be sentenced or fined for their crimes.

At present, most of the crimes listed in state code come with their own required jail time and fines for a judge to impose. A majority of these sentences are “indeterminate,” and include the minimum number of years that someone has to wait before they’re parole eligible, along with the maximum amount of time someone might have to spend behind bars.

House Bill 2017 replaced all of the indeterminate sentences with a series of “determinate” options. The legislation offers more discretion to judges than what currently exists by handing them a span of years they can pick from, depending on the severity of the crime.

Opponents to the bill pointed out this new sentencing system would have increased the bottom line people face for jail time — adding at minimum another three months of incarceration for people convicted of more than 200 types of felonies.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

‘Extended Supervision’ Bill For Selling Heroin, Fentanyl Goes To W.Va. Senate

As the West Virginia House of Delegates prepared to vote on a bill that would add up to 10 years of supervision for people convicted of certain drug crimes, lawmakers debated whether the bill would help or worsen the state’s substance use crisis.

House Bill 2257 establishes a supervised release penalty of up to 10 years for people found guilty of possession with intent to deliver heroin, methamphetamine or fentanyl.

Bill supporters said Friday that this legislation could result in fewer illegal drugs in West Virginia communities by keeping an eye on the people known to sell them.

“The whole point of extended supervision is to watch someone who has a propensity to have a repeat crime of the same nature,” said the bill’s lead sponsor, Republican Del. Brandon Steele of Raleigh County.

On the other hand, the legislation could have negative consequences for people dealing with substance use disorder themselves, by creating more red tape and requirements for people reentering society after incarceration.

“I’ve heard the word ‘dangerous,’ a lot of people are using that label,” said Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion. “But the bill, it captures those struggling with addiction.”

The extended supervision described in House Bill 2257 would be in addition to all time already served in a correctional facility.

Steele told the full House of Delegates Friday that he modeled the bill after an existing program that extends supervision for registered sex offenders.

However, after amendments to the bill Thursday, lawmakers agreed to leave discretion up to local judges, allowing them to increase the length of extended supervision, decrease it, or revoke it and send a person back to jail or prison.

Anyone who’s required to enter extended supervision, based on these charges, is allowed to have a hearing with a judge no sooner than 60 days before the supervision is slated to begin.

Judges are allowed in House Bill 2257 to impose a monthly fee of up to $50 to people under extended supervision, to offset costs associated with monitoring them.

Judges also can require that someone on extended supervision stay home during non-working hours, using “telephone or electronic signaling devices” to ensure compliance.

Opposition to the bill garnered bipartisan support Friday.

Del. Chris Pritt, R-Kanawha, said he would be voting against the bill because it creates a “new layer of government.”

“We heard extensive testimony in the judiciary [committee] about all the different programs that they [the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation] are doing to help prevent recidivism,” Pritt said. “We don’t need a new layer of government. We need to reform our government.”

The House Judiciary committee, which agreed to pass House Bill 2257 onto the full House of Delegates last week, heard hours of testimony from the DCR, the state office of Probation Services, and Kenneth Matthews, a collegiate peer recovery coach who was formerly incarcerated at the Mount Olive Correctional Center.

Before voting on the bill Friday, many delegates referred to Matthews’ testimony to committee members during which Matthews said that he thanks his recovery to programs that connected him to housing and employment — not parole.

Del. Danielle Walker, D-Monongalia, read a letter from Matthews on the House floor. “Do not put another burden on another Kenneth Matthews in this state,” Walker told delegates afterward.

House Judiciary Chair Moore Capito, R-Kanawha, said the bill was a “genuine attempt to make things better.”

“Could we keep somebody from trying heroin for the first time because we got a bigwig drug dealer that we’ve kept our eye on off the street?” Capito said. “Could that happen? Could [this bill] result in less drugs, less poison and toxins in our community? Could that happen as a result of this bill?”

The bill passed 68 to 29 with two people not voting. It now moves onto the West Virginia Senate for consideration.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.