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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.

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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*

W.Va. Corrections Crisis Finds Legislative Fixes, Justice Faces Corrections Lawsuit

Lawmakers say bills passed in the special session to help solve the state’s corrections employment crisis lay a foundation but are not a cure-all.

The measures come as a lawsuit demands the state spend more than 10 times the funds allocated to upgrade conditions in the state’s jails and prisons.

Three key corrections bills provide more than $25 million to increase the starting pay and change pay scales for correctional officers and offer retention payments to non-uniformed corrections workers.

SB 1005 earmarks $21.1 million to increase starting pay and change pay scales for correctional officers. SB 1003 and SB 1004 provide nearly $6 million for one-time bonuses for correctional support staff, divided into two payments that begin in October.

Del. David Kelly, R-Tyler, is the Chair of the House Jails and Prisons Committee. He said the bills create a foundation for relief and a pathway forward.

“I was pleased with the way everyone worked together,” Kelly said. “We started detailed conversations with the Senate in May, and met weekly and bi-weekly, through the months that preceded this call. We know it’s not going to solve the problem, but it’s a piece of the puzzle.”

Kelly noted that the passed legislation also includes $5,000 bonuses for critical vacancy pay, re-named from locality pay. He said the stipend will address worker shortfalls statewide.

“The Eastern Panhandle is dealing with losing officers to other states. But there are other areas that are just as in need as the Panhandle because there are different needs,” Kelly said. “It’s the same outcome, they are short officers.”

A lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday named Gov. Jim Justice and Homeland Security Secretary Mark Sorsaia as defendants. It demands the state spend $330 million for deferred maintenance and worker vacancies in state corrections. The suit asks Justice to call for a special session and submit bills correcting a number of issues to the legislature to correct these issues. The suit, filed by Beckley attorney Steve New who represents the plaintiffs who are inmates of the state, prohibits Justice and Sorsaia from housing inmates in what the suit calls “unconstitutional conditions.”

“Most troubling, is what’s called deferred maintenance in these correctional facilities,” New said. “Mr. Douglas has testified to the legislature to the point that he recently said he’s tired of sounding like a broken record when he comes before the legislature on the issue of deferred maintenance that needs done in West Virginia’s correctional facilities.”

New referred to current state Division of Corrections Chief of Staff Brad Douglas.

New noted several sworn statements that come from a separate lawsuit regarding conditions at the Southern Regional Jail. He said former state Homeland Security Secretary Jeff Sandy, former state Corrections Commissioner Betsy Jividen, and Douglas, were all frank in depositions on how severe understaffing and overcrowding conditions for more than a decade have grown worse with no government relief.

“People have testified that $50 to $60 million dollars is needed to correct the over 1000 staffing shortages in West Virginia’s corrections,” New said. “The bill only provides for $25 million. The rub is nowhere in deferred maintenance to the tune of $270 million mentioned.”

In his Tuesday media briefing, Justice said he was pleased with the outcome of the special session regarding corrections pay raises.

“To get the pay raises to the folks that we had sent up for two consecutive years,” Justice said “Basically the net of the whole thing, fix the corrections dilemma.”

In response to the lawsuit, Justice said the state is working to catch up with corrections challenges and do better.

“There’s $100 million that went into deferred maintenance in the last session,” Justice said. “Right now, we’ve got $25 million dollars, or whatever the number may be, $30 million, of stuff that’s going to corrections. Folks, right now, it can’t be absolutely dead level perfect.”

Also responding to the lawsuit, West Virginia Commissioner of Corrections and Rehabilitations Billy Marshall called it “an insult to our employees and DCR.” Marshall also said “a lot of the complaint has already come to its conclusions in regards to several of the allegations all of which have been investigated.”

He said the evidence didn’t support the claims listed in the complaint.

“We even have gone as far as having recorded inmates’ conversations that went to family members who asked those family members to lie and give false information to try to create some problems for DCR, forcing us to waste our time and money,” Marshall said.

As to jail and prison maintenance, Marshall said “It’s much like owning a home and if you live in a home long enough, there’s going to be things no matter how well you take care of it, there’s going to be things that pop up that you’re gonna need to fix and replace.”

Judge: W.Va. Can’t Require Incarcerated Atheist To Participate In Religious Programming

A federal judge in West Virginia has ruled that the state corrections agency can’t force an incarcerated atheist and secular humanist to participate in religiously-affiliated programming to be eligible for parole.

In a sweeping 60-page decision issued Tuesday, Charleston-based U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin said Saint Marys Correctional Center inmate Andrew Miller “easily meets his threshold burden of showing an impingement on his rights.”

The state’s “unmitigated actions force Mr. Miller to choose between two distinct but equally irreparable injuries,” the judge wrote. He can either “submit to government coercion and engage in religious exercise at odds with his own beliefs,” or “remain incarcerated until at least April 2025.”

Goodwin issued a preliminary injunction requiring West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials to remove completion of a state-run and federally-funded residential substance abuse program from Miller’s parole eligibility requirements. The agency did not return a request for comment Thursday.

Miller filed suit in a federal district court in April alleging the state is forcing Christianity on incarcerated people and has failed to accommodate repeated requests to honor his lack of belief in God.

The suit claimed Miller encountered “religious coercion” in June 2021 when he entered the Pleasants County correctional facility. Miller is serving a one- to 10-year, nondeterminative sentence for breaking and entering.

Substance use was not a factor in his offense, but Miller was enrolled in the program because he is in recovery from addiction.

He alleged the federally-funded substance abuse treatment program — which is a requirement for his parole consideration — is “infused with Christian practices,” including Christian reading materials and mandated Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, where the Serenity and Lord’s Prayer are recited.

Due to the religious elements of the program, Miller withdrew from it after five days at Saint Marys. Prior to incarceration, he received secular treatment and maintained his sobriety for four years, according to his suit.

Multiple courts have determined that step-based programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are religious-based programs because they are predicated on the existence of a higher power or a God. Steps ask participants to turn their “lives over to the care of God” and encourage prayer to improve “conscious contact with God.”

In the “Big Book,” the foundational document of these programs, “Chapter 4: We Agnostics” tells atheists and agnostics that they are “doomed to alcoholic death” unless they “seek Him.” The chapter characterizes non-believers as “handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning prejudice.”

In his decision, Goodwin said although West Virginia’s “longstanding” program has never faced judicial scrutiny, other courts have found them to contain “such substantial religious components that governmentally compelled participation” violates the First Amendment.

“I have been provided with no evidence that West Virginia’s program is any less religious or less coercive than the programs invalidated in other jurisdictions,” Goodwin said.

The Parole Board Panel interviewed Miller three times and declined to grant him parole. Miller alleged that his failure to complete the program contributed significantly to the Board’s decision to deny him parole, something the state did not dispute.

“Although Mr. Miller has no entitlement to parole, the record strongly suggests that he would already have been released, but for maintaining his objections to an unconstitutional policy,” Goodwin said.

Geoffrey T. Blackwell, Litigation Counsel for American Atheists who represented Miller along with nonprofit legal services organization Mountain State Justice, on Wednesday called the ruling “a complete vindication of Andrew’s rights under the law.”

“Without Andrew’s willingness to take on this fight, West Virginia would continue to unconstitutionally impose religion on people in its corrections system,” he said. American Atheists is an organization that fights for atheists’ civil liberties and advocates the separation of church and state in the U.S.

Lesley Nash, an attorney with Mountain State Justice, said the organization is pleased the court protected Miller’s rights when the state did not.

“No one should be forced to set aside their moral or religious creed as a precondition of their parole,” Nash said.

Jail Worker Crisis Highlights Legislative Interims

Testifying in recent committee meetings, corrections leaders described the state’s worst correction officer shortage in 30 years. They counted more than 1,000 open positions and vacancy rates reaching 70 percent in some facilities.

A full slate of legislative interim sessions begin this weekend. One of the biggest will look at addressing the crisis in state jails and prisons.

State corrections leaders will address the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Sunday afternoon.

Brad Douglas, executive officer, and William Marshall, commissioner for the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation will report on current employee recruitment, retention and vacancy rates with the division. They will also make a presentation on the juvenile population in the Bureau of Juvenile Services.

Testifying in recent committee meetings, Douglas and Marshall described the state’s worst correction officer shortage in 30 years. They counted more than 1,000 open positions and vacancy rates reaching 70 percent in some facilities.

Committee member Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, said not correcting the vacancy crisis with proposed pay raises was the biggest failure of the recent legislative session.

“There’s been a number of reports and some type of federal investigation into deaths of inmates and two incidents of alleged violence or abuse,” Garcia said. ”I’ve seen more cages than I ever have, because they don’t have enough correctional officers to take people from one place to another within the jail. I’ve heard from clients about there being more prolonged lockdowns, again, because they don’t have the manpower.”

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. 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. Garcia said the bill needs to be revived, with amendments.

“The pay raises also need to be extended to staff members who have stepped up and have gone into the prisons and done the jobs that many correctional officers do,” Garcia said. “I think they need to be included. There’s also that one time retention bonus, which would be about $5,000. For those officers and staff members, that can be a needed, one time payout.”

Gov. Jim Justice said in a March 15 media briefing that he has tried for two years to get correction officer pay raises. He said the legislature has to get off the bubble on this.

“Is the next alternative to say, ‘I’ll tell you what, let’s do. Let’s just don’t arrest anybody. And let’s just open the jails up and let everybody go,'” Justice said in the briefing. “You can’t blame people that can go right across the border to better themselves.”

Garcia said a special session needs to be called before the problems get even worse.

“If the governor won’t act, the legislature needs to, we can call ourselves in,” Garcia said. “And if the legislature won’t act, then the governor needs to do so, but we have to have some leadership on this issue.”

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

Advocates Rally At State Capitol To Demand Accountability in Jail Deaths

There were 13 reported deaths at the Southern Regional Jail in 2022, and more than 100 deaths in the state’s regional jail system in the past decade.

Advocates with the Poor People’s Campaign have notified Gov. Jim Justice of a federal investigation filed with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate a rise in reported deaths of those in custody at West Virginia jails.

There were 13 reported deaths at the Southern Regional Jail in 2022, and more than 100 deaths in the state’s regional jail system in the past decade.

On March 10, the families, and the Poor People’s Campaign, held a rally called “West Virginia Mothers and Families Deserve Answers” on the front steps of the capitol building.

Pam Garrison, one of the Chairs of the West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign (WVPPC), told the media and attendants to the rally that the rising number of deaths in West Virginia jails is what made the WVPPC reach out to the national Poor People’s Campaign.

“We sent a letter to Reverend Barber in the national asking them to come and help us, help us bring these family stories to the nation to let them know what’s going on here in West Virginia, and what’s getting hidden under the rugs,” Garrison said. “You know, it’s sad that we have to be here for this. In this kind of situation, somebody has to stand up. Somebody has to speak their mind. They are in the ground, they can’t speak for themselves.”

Lacey Watson ran against Congresswoman Carol Miller in 2022 for her seat in the U.S. House of Delegates. He attended Friday’s rally because he is concerned for his cousin, who is currently in the custody of West Virginia Jails.

“With my cousin being in that situation, we need more accountability from our elected leaders, from our governor all the way down to, those heads of the criminal justice system there at the Southern Regional Jail,” Watson said. “It’s ridiculous that you know, we as family members, we as a community have to demand accountability from the elected leaders that we have.”

Two of the 13 inmates that died last year were Quantez Burks and Alvis Shrewsbury. Their families attended the rally and spoke about their loved ones.

Advocates claim in many of these cases, a person died shortly following their arrival, sometimes within 24 hours. Such was the case for Quantez Burks, according to his mother, Kimberly Burks.

“My son was in their system for less than 22 hours,” Burks said. “The very next day, we got no message, no call, no anything from the state, the police department nor the justice system saying that my son was deceased. They beat my son while he was handcuffed. The private autopsy said he died of blunt force trauma to his whole body. His heart attack was caused because of the stress that his body was put under during their beating. Not only do we need to bring attention to the injustice that is going on in the jail, but we also need to hold these departments accountable for what they’re they’ve done. That means the governor, the chief of police, and the COs, especially since they’re still employed.”

While state lawmakers are considering a proposal to increase transparency in West Virginia’s jail system, families are left in the dark, waiting months for investigations to conclude only to be left with unanswered questions.

Miranda Smith, the daughter of Alvis Shrewsbury shared her family’s story.

“On August 29, 2023, a 45-year-old healthy dad, brother son, grandfather, and grandson entered Southern Regional Jail and only survived 19 days of brutal and inhumane treatment,” Smith said. “He was beaten by fellow inmates and it was ignored and covered up by corrupt correctional officers and authority. He was neglected by the medical staff and due to this maltreatment my dad passed away in Washington Regional Hospital. People who knew and loved him will always see it as if he died in that jail.”

The final speaker was Bishop William J. Barber, President of the Repairers of the Breach and Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

“These tears that you see are not black tears or white tears. The pain is tough enough to have a loved one die. It’s tough enough to have someone die, just in life period. But to have all of these unanswered questions, to have all of these distortions, compounds the pain and we’re calling on everyone who believes in righteousness and truth, to turn those all of the investigative tools that you have.”

The rally then took to the sidewalk to march and sing as they delivered a petition to Gov. Jim Justice’s office, calling for a full federal investigation into local prisons by the Department of Justice.

Economic Development And Challenges Of Re-Entry On This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, there are several ways to look at economic development in West Virginia. One is the traditional method of luring large corporations to the state, and another school of thought is to invest that money in poverty programs and to bring the poorest West Virginians up.

On this West Virginia Morning, there are several ways to look at economic development in West Virginia. One is the traditional method of luring large corporations to the state, and another school of thought is to invest that money in poverty programs and to bring the poorest West Virginians up.

In our latest episode of The Legislature Today, reporter Chris Schulz spoke with Mitch Carmichael, the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Economic Development, and Rev. Mathew Watts from the Tuesday Morning Group, about possibilities.

Also, in this show, America’s prison system releases at least 95 percent of the men and women incarcerated when their sentences are finished. When they re-enter society, many struggle to navigate that freedom successfully. On the next Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears about the challenges of re-entry.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning