Prison Overcrowding Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. Correction Commissioner Says Jails System Improving

Corrections Commissioner William Marshall said for the first time since COVID-19 hit, jail and prison guard vacancies have fallen below 1,000 – standing at 990.

We have a class of 55 right now that will graduate next month,” Marshall said. “Our previous class we graduated was 45. And the class before that was 53. So we’ve made some significant hires and some significant impact when it comes to recruiting”

Correctional guard vacancies were recently up to 1,100. Speaking Monday before the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jails and Prisons, Marshall said the $21.1 million the legislature approved for pay raises is helping grow guard academy classes and retirees are coming back to work.

Marshall said changes in the six week class – getting recruits out on the floors at two and a half weeks – gives recruits and supervisors decision making experiences.

“It gives them an opportunity to see if this job fits them or not,” Marshall said. “It also gives the superintendent and the lieutenants and sergeants the opportunity to see how they respond on the floor, how they respond around inmates.”

Marshall said the new academy teaching plan also allows savings when it comes to training.

“We’re not training someone for six weeks at the academy, then they show up the first week in a facility like this and think, ‘This is not what I thought it was,’ and they’re walking out the door,” Marshall said. “We’ve already spent $18 to $20,000 on training. And so this has really greatly helped that.”

Marshal said 330 to 340 National Guard members, under emergency orders, continue to staff non-inmate contact posts at correctional facilities.

“We’re working towards trying to eliminate as many of those as we can going forward,” Marshall said. “As long as we continue to hire, we continue to bring new recruits in.”

He said a new comprehensive recruiting campaign is just underway, including a young public information officer hiree who is well versed in social media.

“We’ve started a new campaign with the Department of Commerce in regards to recruiting,” Marshall said. “We’re on the verge of releasing a new stand alone logo for our division, to try to attract some of the newer, younger generation of workers that would want to come and work for us, whether it be officers, counselors, therapists or office assistants.”

Marshall told the committee that, while a few facilities are at or just under capacity, some overcrowding continues. He said North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County, with a population of more than 800, is about 300 inamtes over capacity.

“It’s just such a hotbed of an area right now when it comes to drug crimes and crimes in general that are feeding into North Central,” Marshall said.

Marshall said over the last calendar year, there was a point where they hired about 700 people, but lost about 650.

“Those numbers are starting to slow down,” he said. “Obviously because of the new pay plan. I’ve received several waivers recently, which is a good sign for the academy, which means we got people coming back that are already academy trained.”

Overcrowding and understaffing, along with physical conditions in the jail system, have sparked numerous lawsuits, alleging dangerous and deplorable living facilities.

Marshall said $60 million in eight deferred maintenance projects are underway statewide.

“We’ve also been working with some energy savings groups with the potential of working with them in order to get some additional projects completed in our jails and prisons and juvenile centers as well,” Marshall said.

He mentioned one project that would have a company set up a HVAC class for inmates at Salem.

“That company is also looking at fixing a lot of our HVAC systems going forward that are ready,” Marshall said. “Instead of trying to fix them by just completely replacing them.”

He said a new initiative called Desert Waters specifically offers mental mental health care for corrections officers.

“It’s another tool for our people to be able to talk to people,” Marshall said. “To be able to share experiences with people who actually speak their language and know what they are saying,”

Marshall told the interim committee that he’s hopeful, with new recruiting efforts, pay raises, retention plans and maintenance upgrades, the emergency crisis within the corrections system will lessen over time.

“The one thing that I knew coming into this job in January is, we were never going to conquer this,” Marshall said. “It will constantly be a challenge that we’ve accepted and I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

Justice Signs Bills To Stem State Corrections Crisis

Gov. Jim Justice said the state should have responded to corrections officer vacancies and facility maintenance needs two years ago.

Speaking at the Gene Spadaro Juvenile Center in Mt. Hope, Gov. Jim Justice said the state should have responded to corrections officer vacancies and facility maintenance needs two years ago.

“In many ways the government sometimes never works,” Justice said. “Or often never works as quickly as what we want it to. But thank God we’re here today, because now we’re on a pathway of making things better.”

Three of the six bills Justice signed, Senate Bill 1005, Senate Bill 1004 and Senate Bill 1003, provide about $30 million and are designed to reduce vacancies in the state’s jails and prisons, increase pay scales for correctional officers and offer retention incentives for all non-uniformed correctional staff.

The new legislation will increase the starting salary for a correctional officer from $35,514 to $40,000. At the end of their second year of service, the salary will be $48,000.

Correctional officers, categories three through seven and all non-uniform staff, will begin to receive an annual increase of $250 in 2024. Current correctional staff will receive two retention incentives totaling $4,600, with the first effective increase in October and the second scheduled for March 2024.

Senate Bill 1039 provides $100 million for deferred maintenance. Senate Bill 1006 updates temporary identification cards for released inmates.

Senate Bill 1009 prohibits the use of state funds for certain procedures or benefits considered not medically necessary. Critics of that bill say it could be used to deny gender-affirming medical care to transgender inmates.

Justice said that more may need to be done for corrections issues.

“We’re on a pathway to hopefully be able to have adequate staffing, to where everybody can do their job safely, and do their job correctly, and do their job humanely,” Justice said.

A lawsuit filed last week on behalf of state inmates calls for $330 million to be spent by the state in corrections, including $60 million to avert the employment crisis and $270 million in statewide jail and prison maintenance. The suit addresses alleged inhumane jail and prison conditions among other issues.

West Virginia Corrections Commissioner Billy Marshall called the suit “an insult to employees and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation” and said “in interviews taken by DCR [there] just simply wasn’t the evidence that supported any of those claims that, that complaint has listed.”

Faith Groups Meet To Discuss Corrections Crisis

https://wvpublic.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/0814StMarkcorrections-SWEB.mp3

Shortly after Justice’s speech, the West Virginia Council of Churches gathered at Saint Marks Methodist Church in Charleston. Leaders in faith and activism spoke about different aspects of the crisis of the correctional system and possible solutions. Many speakers thanked Justice, and the state Legislature, for passing and signing bills to address the issues. But every speaker said there is more to be done.

Bishop Mark Brennan of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling/Charleston attended the event. He works with the Catholic Distance University in Charleston that helps inmates get job training and degrees while incarcerated. He said that in the teachings of Jesus Christ there are no exceptions to loving thy neighbor.

“That is why the incarcerated, as well as those who guard them deserve respect and proper conditions,” Brennan said.

Low pay leading to hundreds of vacancies, deferred maintenance of prison facilities, and a lack of resources for current and released inmates were aspects that many speakers said needs continued attention and assistance.

Beverly Sharp worked in the carceral system for 30 years. Now she works with people coming out of prison and jail as the executive director of the REACH initiative. She said it’s going to take hundreds of millions of dollars more and major policy changes.

“They just touched the tip of the iceberg, and so now they have to address the iceberg,” Sharp said.

She said that $300 million worth of deferred maintenance didn’t happen overnight. It happened over an extended period of time.

“When you talk about that much deferred maintenance, you’re talking about locks that don’t work — that makes it unsafe for staff. That makes it unsafe for people living there. When you talk about running water, or plumbing, or electrical, or all those things, they are not only unsafe, they are inhumane conditions,” Sharp said. “And we are called to be the hands and feet of Christ and to treat everybody like a human.”

Lida Shephard works with the West Virginia Council of Churches Prison Ministry and said that she hears stories of inhumane conditions from ex-inmates as well.

“We’ve spoken with women who talked about three inches of sewage water that was in their cell, no access to feminine hygiene products, no easy access to toilet paper,” Shephard said.

Many speakers talked about the high cost of phone calls between inmates and their friends and families. According to the Prison Policy Initiative phone calls out of West Virginia, jails can cost up to $13 an hour, which Shephard said makes it hard for inmates to maintain ties with family and friends.

Many more issues were raised during the hour-long event, like preventing recidivism, proactive justice, private versus governmental carceral systems and products, prison-pipelines, overdoses while incarcerated and mental health.

Sharp, from the REACH initiative, said that more money from the budget surplus could help the crisis.

“They can only fix those when they are given the funding and the empowerment to be able to do that,” she said. “And that comes from the very top that comes from the governor’s office, down through the legislature to the commissioner.”

Fixing W.Va. Corrections Crisis Has Hints Of Possible Resolution

Legislators say fixing the state’s corrections crisis is not just about money. And when it does come to money, they say it’s not just about a one-time funding fix.

Information from the WV Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows there are still more than a thousand open jobs overall. The vacancy rate for corrections officers alone is more than 33 percent. The state’s correctional system consists of 11 prisons, 10 regional jails, 10 juvenile centers and three work-release sites.

In a media briefing earlier this week, Gov. Jim Justice said there may be some steps taken toward resolution next month.

“It’s likely in August before we can have a special session,” Justice said. “Our folks are meeting constantly with the folks upstairs.”

Folks upstairs means legislators. Rep. David Kelly, R-Tyler, and House Jails and Prisons Committee Chair, said the meetings are constant and moving toward a consensus.

“We’ve been working diligently through the summer,” Kelly said. “We’re trying to come up with a plan that everyone can get behind. I think we’re getting closer and closer, and it would be my hope and my desire that we could present something in our August interim legislative meetings.”

Kelly said there are issues that need to be resolved besides the low pay scale for West Virginia corrections personnel when compared to border states.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into these discussions,” Kelly said. “One of the things is, how can we make a pathway forward to try to reduce the overcrowding there?”

Kelly said discussions also include incentives to recruit corrections personnel other than simply using money. He said possible college payments were under discussion, but said there has been no talk about subsidizing childcare.

Kelly said the often-discussed raises, locality pay and possible bonus amounts have not been agreed upon. He did say however, that they will not be packaged as a one-time funding fix, but designated over perpetuity – as “base building.”

“If any legislation is passed,” Kelly said. “It will be built into the budget every year thereafter. That’s what I mean by ‘base building’.”

Kelly said keeping 379 national guard members working corrections jobs under an emergency executive order, duties costing taxpayers $20 million a year, can’t last.

“Those numbers are unsustainable,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to find a pathway forward, to turn the light out above the dome, and to get people through the door that can be hired and that we can retain.”

Justice began his correction crisis comments by giving a potential resolution date and expressing hope for a conclusive outcome. He ended those comments with not quite as much optimism..

“There’s no point in calling a special session, spending your money for two or three days or a week or whatever it may be,” Justice said. “To listen to 15 different solutions and go nowhere. We don’t need that. We’ve got to come to an agreement, and we’re working on it.”

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.

Activists Call For Federal Investigation Into W.Va. Jail Deaths

Activists with the Poor People’s Campaign are calling for a federal investigation into West Virginia jails following a rise in the number of reported deaths.

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

During a virtual press conference Thursday, the campaign said it will ask the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to investigate.

“Poverty, or a prison sentence, should not be a death sentence,” organization co-chair William Barber said. “Countless low income West Virginians of all races, Black and white and others, have died under the watch of the state prison jail system.”

A March 4 rally in Beckley and a March 10 rally at the capitol building in Charleston were also announced.

Barber said the organization is pushing for an investigation in part to hopefully spur the DOJ to address systemic issues at a national level.

“We don’t know how far it will go. But we know that the federal government has the power and the ability to expand wherever this investigation takes them,” Barber said. “And we certainly will endorse that as well.”

Two of the 13 inmates that died last year were Quantez Burks and Alvis Shrewsbury, whose family members spoke at the virtual conference.

Burks, 37, was arrested and charged with wanton endangerment and obstructing an officer on Feb. 28 and died less than 24 hours later on March 1 while in jail. After not hearing back from state officials with an initial autopsy, a second, private autopsy the family received in Pittsburgh reported Burks had died from a heart attack as a reaction to blunt force trauma and multiple broken bones.

“Because they didn’t get in touch with us, we just felt like there was probably some foul play in it,” said Quantez’s mother, Kimberly Burks. “So that’s really what made us decide to get that second autopsy.”

Shrewsbury’s daughter, Miranda Smith, said she found out her father, 45, had died in the jail 19 days after he was initially charged with a DUI.

“He was telling us that the other inmates in there, there were three in particular, that they were beating him for his food to take his tray during the meal times,” Smith said.

Last April, conditions at the Southern Regional Jail were investigated by the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security. The governor’s office previously said there was no basis to allegations that inmates had been deprived.

A federal class action lawsuit was also filed against the regional jail last September from current and former inmates, citing overcrowded conditions and a lack of access to water and food.

Q & A: What Would Criminal Justice Reform Look Like In West Virginia?

Some state lawmakers in West Virginia are looking at some ways to address our overcrowded prison system and help more previously incarcerated people reenter the workforce. What would criminal justice reform look like in West Virginia? Last year, several groups and non-profits went around the state to gather testimony and stories from over 200 people about their experiences with the criminal justice system. Their stories were collected through interviews, surveys and focus groups.

Lida Shepherd works with one of the groups spearheading the project, The American Friends Service Committee. Shepherd sat down with West Virginia Public Broadcasting to share some of the results.

***Editor’s Note: The following has been lightly edited for clarity.

Q: What were some of the themes that emerged from what people talked about?

LIDA SHEPHERD: We definitely heard a lot of trauma. I think, as a society, we fall into this trap of thinking that people who are formerly incarcerated, we look at them through this one dimensional lens of they are a criminal or they are a felon. And what we heard a lot about was people who had very complex lives and had really complex challenges growing up.

Q: And how does race and things like implicit bias factor into how people are treated by the criminal justice system in our state?

SHEPHERD: Looking at the numbers of the demographics of our prison system, there is no doubt that there is racial bias at every point of the system, from policing, to arrest, to who get sent to drug court.

Q: So the people who are often offered this opportunity for treatment as an alternative to being sent to jail or prison are often white, and the people that are of color often just get funneled into the prison system?

SHEPHERD: Yep. And I think it also shows up even in sentencing, the length that somebody is sentenced. So really at every single point, you see the racial bias show up. The numbers bear that out. And then as far as women incarceration, I mean, that’s a sector of the population that has just steadily climbed. We are incarcerating more women in this state, year after year. And that is in part attributed to, of course, the opioid crisis and just everything that occurs around addiction in West Virginia. And I think it’s also attributed to women actually being perceived differently by judges. There is actually a real gender bias when sentencing occurs. It’s a little counterintuitive, you would think that women would be let off more easily. But what we actually see is that women are actually sentenced more harshly. And I think part of that is because, quote unquote “bad behavior” amongst men is a little bit more expected, and therefore a little maybe more acceptable. A woman being brought before a judge for the same crime is actually sentenced more harshly.

Q: What did you hear about the types of ways that people are treated when they’re children? I know we have a high rate in the state of children being suspended, or being put into some type of juvenile justice situation. What did you hear about how people are treated as children, and how that transforms into their adult behavior?

SHEPHERD: You know, you’re listening to people’s stories. And often when you ask them to tell their story, it starts in childhood. And people talked about how situations that occurred in their childhood led them to acting out in school, that led them to getting expelled or suspended, lead them into the juvenile justice system. And we know that if you are in the juvenile justice system, your likelihood of ending up in the adult criminal justice system is very likely.

The first point of contact that kids often have with the juvenile justice system starts in schools. They end up in the juvenile justice system because of truancy, because of these really low-level status offenses.

And we are not equipping schools as much as we should be to really deal with the complex issues that these kids are facing. They’re coming into school every day bearing a lot of weight of trauma, and of adverse childhood experiences. And so I think really having those [mental health] services in schools, I think, would really go very far to keeping kids in school, not expelling them, not suspending them.

Q: So what happens next? What types of changes out of this project could occur?

SHEPHERD: Well, its legislative session, and the legislature is really taking a pretty careful look at how we can address and reduce incarceration. I think there is growing consensus that this is a really expensive way of dealing with very complex social problems. So we’re seeing a big effort to look at our money bail system, so that people aren’t being held in regional jails who have not been convicted of a crime, but simply cannot afford to make bail.

There’s also an effort to basically look at our parole system and make sure that people are being released earlier who pose no threat to public safety. Once they are parole eligible, they are paroled. And that we are providing as much support to them upon release, because definitely one of the things we’ve heard over and over again is that the barriers to people who are released from jail are often insurmountable barriers to employment: housing, transportation, food. And while we’ve been tackling some of those barriers, we have a long way to go.

Lida Shepherd works with with the American Friends Service Committee and was one of the people involved in the Criminal Justice Listening Project, which compiled the testimonies of people across West Virginia. The majority of those interviewed have experienced incarceration or have had family members behind bars.