Mount Olive Correctional Center Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Additional Deaths At Mount Olive Likely Both Linked To COVID

West Virginia corrections officials say they’re now linking a prisoner death in July to COVID-19, referring to newer medical records that they received Tuesday.

This marks the second known COVID-related death of a prisoner within the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, after the agency reported its first inmate death in Charleston on Aug. 28. The DCR also said Wednesday that COVID-19 was possibly the cause of a third prisoner’s death from Sunday, Sept. 13.

When the DCR first reported the death of a 73-year-old man at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex in July, they said medical providers found COVID-19 was not a contributing factor in the prisoner’s death.

The division released this information roughly a week and a half after the prisoner’s reported July 17 death. The agency said he had been receiving hospice care from the prison infirmary for stage 4 metastatic cancer, and a coronavirus test administered shortly before the prisoner’s death came back positive after he died.

A new report finalized nearly two months later from the West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner disproves that initial assessment and lists COVID-19 as a complicating factor, according to a press release from the DCR on Wednesday.

The DCR declined to share a copy of the medical examiner’s report with West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

A second prisoner from Mount Olive reportedly died on Sunday, Sept. 13, at an outside hospital. The 54-year-old man also had an underlying medical condition and was hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus in late August, according to the DCR.

Prison officials are still waiting on results from the Chief Medical Examiner, but the DCR said in its Wednesday statement that a preliminary assessment from the hospital linked the prisoner’s death to COVID-19.

The DCR reported there were still 28 active cases of the coronavirus among Mount Olive prisoners on Wednesday. More than 160 prisoners there have recovered from COVID-19 after testing positive for the virus during a late August facility-wide testing effort.

On Aug. 28, the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed a prisoner being held on federal charges at the DCR-run South Central Regional Jail had died from the coronavirus.

The 40-year-old prisoner was indicted on child pornography-related charges in January and had a trial scheduled for September, according to court records. He was the state’s first COVID-related inmate death.

More than 60 others at South Central have recovered from the coronavirus, according to data from the DCR Wednesday.

Although numbers from the DCR show that no state prisons are over capacity, records showed on Wednesday that all 10 of the state’s regional jails were over capacity.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

Dozens Of Inmates Test Positive For Virus At W.Va. Prison

Dozens of inmates at a West Virginia prison have tested positive for the new coronavirus, health officials said.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Resources’ website, 138 inmates at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex were confirmed as having the virus while 187 tests at the prison are pending.

A second round of tests was held at the maximum-security prison in Fayette County last week.

Earlier in August several inmates and staff in a prison housing unit tested positive for the virus, Gov. Jim Justice had said.

The virus usually results in only mild to moderate symptoms, but is particularly dangerous for the elderly and people with other health problems.

W.Va. Prison Officials Monitor COVID-19 Cases At Mount Olive

West Virginia prison officials have identified three prisoner COVID-19 cases at the Mount Olive Correctional Center in Fayette County as of Monday.

Three prisoners at Mount Olive and three employees tested positive for the coronavirus by Monday afternoon, according to data from the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

“Corrections did what they’ve been doing over and over, just running to the fire,” Justice said during a regularly scheduled virtual press briefing Monday.

According to DCR spokesman Lawrence Messina, staff tested all of the prisoners occupying the housing unit where two active cases of the coronavirus were identified.

The DCR also tested randomly selected prisoners from the other five housing units at Mount Olive.

All tests from the Mount Olive medical unit, which the DCR tested in its entirety, came back negative on Monday.

Whether DCR tests everyone at Mount Olive depends on the roughly 185 pending results from Mount Olive prisoners and input from the state Bureau for Public Health.

There are 1,020 prisoners total at the Mount Olive correctional center and work camp.

Less than two weeks ago, the DCR tested all prisoners and staff at the South Central Regional Jail, where roughly 60 people have tested positive for the virus since then.

By Monday afternoon, the division reported 57 prisoners had recovered from the coronavirus. The facility remains on lockdown, according to Justice.

Systemwide, there are 14 employees, including six workers in Charleston and three at the regional jail in Raleigh County, who have tested positive for the coronavirus. They are all self-quarantining from home, according to Messina.

All 10 regional jails were over capacity Sunday afternoon, despite guidance from state court officials to local courts and a new law to reduce jail overcrowding.

No prisons were over capacity.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

This story was corrected on Tuesday, August 25, 2020, to report the accurate number of empoyees who have active cases of COVID-19 at Mount Olive. Only three employees and three prisoners by Monday had active cases of the coronavirus.

Inmate Lawsuit: Guards Stood By Or Helped Facilitate Aryan Brotherhood Attack

A black West Virginia inmate says in a federal lawsuit that he was attacked by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood while state prison guards either did nothing or helped facilitate the assault.

Lermon Russell, 44, filed suit last week over the attack at the Mount Olive Correctional Center, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

Russell says in the suit that Jacob Samples attacked him more than a year ago, stabbing and punching him while he was shackled. Court filings including a statement from Samples that says guards knew about and encouraged the plan to attack Russell.

Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Lawrence Messina said division officials only would comment on the case through court filings.

Defendants in the lawsuit include the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation as well as multiple officials within the agency, correctional officers and nurses.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for pain and suffering and seeks to have the agency adopt policies to prevent similar incidents.

Lockdown Lifted at West Virginia Prison After Killing

West Virginia corrections officials say the lockdown has been lifted at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex where a 66-year-old inmate died after an apparent assault Sunday evening.

Authorities said Eugene Robert Anderson was fatally injured in an outdoor recreation area by one or more inmates.

According to the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, the facility was placed on lockdown and a weapon was found.

The lockdown was lifted Tuesday.

State police are investigating. No one has been charged.

Anderson was serving sentences from Kanawha and Wood counties for sex offenses involving minors with no release before 2148.

Jails Dealing With Staffing Issues Because of Floods

No prisons in the state have been flooding in recent weather events, but high waters have created issues for staff of a few facilities in affected areas.

Lawrence Messina the Assistant Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety said Mount Olive Correctional Complex and the Anthony Correctional Center have staff who are off trying to cope with floods. As a result, the facilities are understaffed.

The facilities are also trying to conserve water. The hope is to keep use down so as not to put a drain on communities already dealing with a lack of water in some cases.

Prison work details are also now being used to help in cleanup efforts.