Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Story Archives

Regional Jails Undergo Investment Reform, Recruitment Efforts

Regional jails in West Virginia have long struggled with staffing and safety issues. Investment reforms and recruiting efforts from state leadership aim to solve these issues.

As West Virginia’s strained jail system faces ongoing safety concerns, reinvestment and recruitment efforts aim to amend facility issues on a state level.

The Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority convened for a public meeting Monday at the State Capitol. Their meeting centered around changes to staffing and oversight in the state’s jail facilities.

West Virginia’s jail system has come under national scrutiny for the alleged mistreatment of people who are incarcerated, including neglect, water deprivation and the deaths of tens of individuals in less than five years.

Last year, eight correctional officers at Southern Regional Jail in Beaver were charged over an assault that led to the death of a man who was incarcerated in the facility.

Carl Reynolds, senior legal and policy advisor at the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, spoke to lawmakers about “justice reinvestment” — the reallocation of funds from jails to other areas of the criminal justice system.

By providing investments “further upstream,” like in law enforcement, victim services and parole supervision, Reynolds said the state’s jail system can reduce expenses associated with incarceration.

The CSG Justice Center uses federal funds to work with officials on the state level and analyze data pertaining to state criminal justice systems. They then advise state leadership on potential changes to make.

Justice reinvestment refers to the reallocation of funding for jails toward other areas of the criminal justice system.

*Photo Credit: Will Price/WV Legislative Photography*

Reynolds said representatives from his organization have met with leaders from all three branches of government in West Virginia and have received approval to pursue this work in the Mountain State.

Justice reinvestment is an idea that West Virginia has recently begun to embrace.

Gov. Jim Justice awarded more than $2.6 million in grant funds to treatment supervision programs across the state in 2023, followed by an additional $2.4 million in 2024. These programs offer substance abuse interventions to some individuals convicted of felony drug offenses.

Reynolds said that his organization is currently collecting information and ideas from state officials on how to approach reinvestment efforts in West Virginia.

“This is an open-minded, open-ended process where we want to find out what’s important to you all and to the other stakeholders in the system,” he said.

In the meantime, recruitment efforts in West Virginia jails could also address issues in the West Virginia corrections system, according to Pat Mirandy, chief of staff for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR).

Mirandy said Monday that recruitment efforts have been “nothing more than miraculous over the past few months.”

Since Jan. 1, Mirandy said the DCR has hired 291 correctional officers and 49 additional, non-officer personnel members. Also since Jan. 1, 162 individuals have completed DCR corrections training, he said.

Pat Mirandy, chief of staff for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, updates lawmakers on recruitment efforts in West Virginia’s jail system.

*Photo Credit: Will Price/WV Legislative Photography*

Union representatives have long said that understaffing in the state’s jail system has created additional safety risks for workers, which also extend to individuals who are incarcerated.

In 2022, Justice issued a state of emergency proclamation over the staffing issues, which allowed members of the West Virginia National Guard to fill in vacancies in the jail system.

But the ongoing recruiting efforts could mean National Guard members will no longer be needed in the state’s jail system, Mirandy said.

At the beginning of the year, Mirandy said 413 National Guard members were working for the DCR. Now, that number has fallen to approximately 80.

During the meeting, Del. Bryan Ward, R-Hardy, said these staffing improvements marked “a lot to be proud of” for the agency.

Mirandy said that by May the DCR anticipates only five guard members will remain with the agency, staying on to complete “paperwork that needed to be done to close out the soldiers that we had in our facilities.”

“Because of the success of our recruiting efforts, we’ve been able to draw down the National Guard’s footprint in our agency,” he said. “Our plan to eventually achieve no guardsmen in our facilities will be a reality soon.”

W.Va. Corrections Commissioner Says Jail Guard Vacancies Are Being Filled

While West Virginia remains in a corrections emergency with hundreds of National Guard members helping fill the ranks, progress is being made.

In a Wednesday media briefing, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations Commissioner Billy Marshall said since May 2023, 227 guards have graduated from the guard training academy, with another 52 currently in class.

Marshall said a new recruiting campaign is working, and changes in the six-week class – getting recruits out on the floors at two and a half weeks – is giving recruits and supervisors decision making experiences.

“It’s really allowed the individual to get within our facilities behind the doors, to see if they’re cut out for this kind of a work,” Marshall said. “To see if those individuals are actually cut out for what the tasks are in our jails and prisons and juvenile centers. It takes a special kind of person to do what we do.”

In speaking before the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jails and Prisons in mid-October, Marshall said there were 990 jail guard vacancies statewide. He said then that 330 to 340 National Guard members, under emergency orders, continued to staff non-inmate contact posts at correctional facilities.

Marshall also listed several facilities that are cutting their vacancy numbers.

“I’m proud to announce that the Lakin Women’s Correctional Facility, near Point Pleasant in Mason County, currently has zero staffing base vacancies,” Marshall said. “The Western Regional Jail near Barboursville, West Virginia, they’ve added 14 new officers in the last month with eight new officers starting soon. They’re one of the facilities that received the critical vacancy rate supplement.”

Marshall said the South Central Regional Jail is down to five vacancies, He said Moundsville’s Northern Correctional Facility has added 32 new officers in the last month.

Marshall said the Donald R. Kuhn Juvenile Detention Center in Boone County was down to one corrections officer vacancy. He said the Tiger Morton Juvenile Detention Center in Dunbar was fully staffed “for the first time that I could ever remember.”

Marshall gave credit to the new corrections pay plan that kicked in last month. In an August special session, lawmakers passed and the governor signed bills meant to bolster the state’s jails and prisons.

One of the bills, Senate Bill 1005, put $21.1 million toward increasing starting pay and changing pay scales for correctional officers. Two more, Senate Bill 1003 and Senate Bill 1004, provided nearly $6 million for one-time bonuses for correctional support staff, divided into two payments.

The state still faces multiple corrections lawsuits regarding jail conditions, overcrowding and inhumane treatment. Last month, the two sides reached a $4 million agreement in a class-action lawsuit over the alleged poor conditions at the Southern Regional Jail. Four separate $1 million state insurance policies were divided up among 9,200 inmates.

New Corrections Lawsuit Alleges Women’s Prison Gang Terrorized Inmates

The complaint said a female gang known as the “A-8 Gladiators” freely and severely beat an inmate while she was incarcerated,

Yet another lawsuit involving a state jail was filed in federal court earlier this month. The complaint from former inmate Nicole Henry named the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations and unidentified Southern Regional Jail guards as defendants. It said a female gang known as the “A-8 Gladiators” severely beat Henry while she was incarcerated, along with numerous other prisoners.

Henry’s attorney, Steve New from Beckley, said that jail administrators and guards did not just permit the gang to freely inflict terror and violence, but would direct certain prisoners to section “A-8.”

“Women who those guards, for whatever reason, didn’t like or wanted to see something bad happen to them,” New said.

The complaint says Henry was beaten twice and suffered “serious and permanent injuries.”

“John/Jane Doe Correctional Officers failed to ensure plaintiff’s cell was properly locked and secure at appropriate times, ignored plaintiff’s attempts to receive help, failed to intervene in the beating, failed to separate the gang following the beating and failed to take plaintiff to the medical unit following the beating,” the lawsuit said.

New said there are up to a dozen more lawsuits coming from other inmates alleging they were beaten and terrorized by the “A-8 Gladiators.”

He said these cases, along with several others alleging overcrowded and unsanitary jail conditions – including the lawsuit calling for a special legislative session, that demanded the state spend $330 million for deferred maintenance and worker vacancies in state corrections – all dovetail into the state’s long running jail emergency crisis.

“Just imagine having upwards of 50 or 60 people in a space designed for 32,” New said. “Then you have the issues with the horrible conditions and lack of running water in the cells, the lack of operable toilets, the lack of operable showers, and it just creates a powder keg.”

In his media briefing on Friday, Gov. Jim Justice said the state has an obligation to fix the jail and prison problems.

“We still are in a state of emergency in regard to this,” Justice said. “I’m confident now that we’ve gotten everybody’s attention, we’ll get there with stuff that will make real progress.”

New said the Corrections funding legislated in the August special session offers promise.

“The interim in August did about half of what was needed in terms of the $270 million, deferred maintenance and the money needed to fully staff the jails with corrections officers and other personnel,” New said. “Hopefully the legislature will see to it to get all of this finished.”

New Homeland Security Inspector General Creates ‘To Do’ List

“My work is when there are allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, and maybe even matters that rise to a level of criminal investigation,” Honaker said.

As a House of Delegates member in the 2023 general session, Mike Honaker, R-Greenbrier, said he had no idea in voting for House Bill 3360, to create the Office of the Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security, that he would end up holding that position.

“Absolutely not,”’ Honaker said. “It was never discussed, and never occurred to me.”

Appointed by Gov. Jim Justice, Honaker said his primary duty is to conduct inquiries and, where needed, full scope investigations.

“My work is when there are allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, and maybe even matters that rise to a level of criminal investigation,” Honaker said. “Those investigations would be conducted in conjunction with the appropriate law enforcement agency if that were something that was necessary.”

Honaker is Inspector General for all the agencies that are under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security. Those include West Virginia State Police, Division of Corrections, Fire Marshal’s Office, Parole Board, the Division of Emergency Management, the Division of Justice and Community Services. He says there’s “about somewhere north of 5000 employees” in Homeland Security positions.

Honaker said he will work with the Corrections Inspector General on the many allegations and lawsuits facing that department and conduct his own prison inspection tour.

“I’m going to be traveling around and personally visiting some of the prisons and jails and looking at the actual conditions there to make sure that we’re doing the right thing,” he said. “There is obviously pending litigation, so we are constantly reviewing that information as it comes in to see if there are more things we need to be doing or looking at to make adjustments.”

He hopes to create an internal homeland security fraud, waste, and abuse hotline.

“So that employees within organizations that maybe see things that they would not otherwise be comfortable reporting, they could do that anonymously,” he said.

Honaker said he will let the State Police investigations run their course, not ruling out any reviews.

“I don’t think there’s any cause for me to become involved because those investigations have been taking place for some months now,” Honaker said. “They are being appropriately investigated. There could be some cases that we would go back and review to maybe make sure they were handled appropriately with the previous administration.”

Honaker plans to conduct staff inspections of all departments and agencies, to ensure accountability.

“Are there checks and balances? Are there systems of accountability to make sure that these things are not occurring in agencies, whether it’s mismanagement of money or fraud, waste or abuse,” Honaker said. “We would only know that by actually sitting down with employees, reviewing files, interviewing employees, about their position.”

Honaker said he will report investigation findings to Justice and Homeland Security Secretary Mark Sorsaia. He said he will not determine guilt or innocence.

“What I will fully do is conduct thorough, complete, fair, impartial investigations, to determine the facts and to produce reports that would allow the Secretary or the governor to make logical conclusions as to whether the allegations are substantiated or not,” he said. “I have no interest in being anything less than completely fair and impartial.”

State Board Of Education Receives Updates On Ongoing Investigation, State Assessments And More

During its monthly meeting Wednesday, Aug. 9, the West Virginia Board of Education received an update on the investigation into Upshur County Schools, which was placed under state control earlier this summer.

Jeffrey Kelley, accountability officer for the state Department of Education, reported to the board that the investigation into Upshur County Schools’ management of funds is ongoing with the collaboration of the state police.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also become involved based on an early inspection of child nutrition in the county.

With the start of the school year just around the corner, Kelley commended Upshur Schools’ central office, including Superintendent Christy Miller, for balancing the investigation with their regular duties.

“All of this stuff that we reported out last month and this month, these corrective pieces that have been spearheaded by Superintendent Miller have taken place while they’re also trying to get ready for the opening of schools and navigating the craze we call summer personnel,” he said.

Both Kelley and Miller discussed outdated policies that have been discovered as part of the investigations that are being replaced.

“Operationally policy is a big deal,” Miller said. “Each time we open the supposed policy manual that’s in place, we do find outdated policy, outdated language.”

Miller told the board Upshur is on the mend and is on its way to becoming a lighthouse example for others across the state.

“I’m a believer that I have to go in with the enthusiasm, confidence in them, that we’re all there to do the job that we are hired to do, which is to support our students, and improving their outcomes,” Miller said.

Later in the meeting, board members received a detailed report on the state’s Schools of Diversion and Transition. Formerly titled the Office of Institutional Education Programs, the West Virginia Schools of Diversion and Transition provide educational services to juveniles and adults in residential and other state-operated correctional facilities.

Jacob Green, superintendent of Schools of Diversion & Transition, gave the board an overview of the various facilities and programs his department oversees, including a truancy diversion program in 14 counties.

“For instance, in Putnam County, Judge Towers can actually sentence a kid to our classroom instead of going to detention,” Green said. “Last year we served 408 students.”

He said his department also served around 6,000 adults in correctional facilities across the state, and discussed how his department has to deal not only with the state’s shortage in teaching positions, but the correctional officer shortage as well.

“We have a lot of challenges being spread out,” Green said. “We are affected by the correctional officer shortage every day, we sometimes do not have enough officers to hold class the way we normally do. We have to improvise and work with those host agencies because we don’t own any of the buildings we’re in. We are a guest of either the DHHR facilities, those that run those facilities, or the Division of Corrections.”

The board also heard a report on the year’s summative assessment results from Vaughn Rhudy, director of assessment for the department. He reported that overall students showed improvement year over year.

“In math, we increased two percentage points over last year. 35 percent, where we were 33 percent,” Rudy said. “Last year in English language arts, another two percentage point increase 44 this year, 42 Last year. And in science, we did see a one percentage point increase to 29 percent over 28 percent last year.”

Accounting for grade level and subject, there were some small decreases or no change, including for seventh grade language arts from 41 percent to 39 percent. The full results can be viewed on the Zoom WV website.

Corrections Commissioner Details Job Vacancy Crisis To Lawmakers

There are more than 1,000 job vacancies division wide, with most facilities lacking from 40 to 70 percent of needed staff.

As a declared state of emergency continues, West Virginia’s Corrections Commissioner told lawmakers he would welcome a special legislative session on pay raises.

William Marshall, the Commissioner for the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation presented a report to members of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority on Sunday.

Marshall began by noting that there are more than 1,000 job vacancies division wide, with most facilities lacking from 40 to 70 percent of needed staff.

“We have over 300 National Guard members that are assisting in our facilities each and every day,” They’re doing a wonderful job for us. I’m not sure what we would actually do without them right now.”

Gov. Jim Justice called on the National Guard last year to assist corrections in non-front-line duties. Marshall said the guard assistance will cost taxpayers $17 million this fiscal year.

“We welcome the possibility of a special session to hopefully address some of the pay needs for the division,” Marshall told lawmakers.

House Bill 2879 would have given correctional officers a $10,000 pay raise over three years. The bill called for an initial $5,000 raise, followed by $2,500 over the next two years, and a $6,000 one-time bonus. The current starting pay for West Virginia correctional officers is about $33,000 a year, markedly lower than comparable positions in neighboring states and federal holding facilities.

The bill passed the House Jails and Prisons Committee unanimously but died in the House Finance Committee.

Marshall said the department’s mission now highlights increased and revamped recruiting efforts. He said they have improved the website, working to better connect with younger prospective employees through social media. Corrections now offers pre-counseling for applicants who would go through the process but become intimidated by the civil service test. They have also eliminated what Marshall called the strain of a six-week academy training stay.

“That was a strain on a lot of individuals to be away for six weeks from their families,” he said. “We’ve changed that process and we’ve got them working at the facility for two weeks shadowing an individual getting the basic training there, then taking some online courses. Then they would go to the academy for four days here and there maybe even a week,”

Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, asked Marshall about a sign he sees near his home.

“I drive by the St. Mary’s correctional facilities two or three times a week,” Clements said. “A big sign out there says ‘careers start here.’ If I decide I want to become a correctional officer, I go inside – and what happens from that point on?”

Marshall responded that throughout the corrections system, there’s a new emphasis on congeniality and helpfulness.

“We’ve instructed all of our facilities to be extremely proactive,” Marshall said. “We will sit down with you right there and get on the website and get you an application filled out right then. We’ll make it as easy as we can to get on the register and try to get them hired.”

Marshall said there needs to be some sort of compromise in getting pay raises to boost not just recruitment, but retention.

“We need to land on something to show the existing officers that we’re going to reward them with a higher salary,” Marshall said. “Our retention right now is just as big as our recruiting. We’ve hired roughly 150 since the first year, but we’ve probably lost that many.”

Several committee members said they were hopeful there would be a special session to consider pay raises for all 3,800 corrections positions, not just guards. Committee Chair Del. David Kelly, R-Tyler, told Marshall the effort to get pay raises to corrections officers will continue.

“I want your people to know that we hear them,” Kelly said. “We’re trying to do what we can to get something to happen for them.”

In a statement last week, Justice says he still agrees on needed corrections pay raises and that the problem must be solved. So far though, there is no word on a special session.