Southern Regional Jail Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Justice Discusses Business Debt, Project Financing And Babydog

A Virginia bank has moved to auction off the Greenbrier Sporting Club owned by the Justice family, but Gov. Jim Justice says it won’t happen.

Carter Bank and Trust, one of the Justice family’s biggest lenders, is moving to auction off the Greenbrier Sporting Club to satisfy millions in debt. In a regular briefing Wednesday afternoon, Justice said he did not believe a sale would happen.

“We want to protect the sporting club and all those members in every single way,” he said. “I want to tell you the track record through and through of exactly what’s happened. And I’ll be able to do it someday, but I can’t do it right now. All I would say is stay tuned. Watch what’s going to happen.”

In November, Justice and several of his companies, including the Greenbrier Resort, sued the Virginia-based bank for $1 billion. Justice said that at the time of the death of the bank’s founder, Worth Carter, in 2017, his companies owed the bank around $780 million but has paid down $480 million in the intervening years.

“I want Carter Bank to be paid off in full, but really and truly Carter Bank has got a real dilemma on your hand,” he said. “Because on one hand, we may very well owe Carter Bank $300 million. But on another hand, we feel like they owe us in excess of a billion, and so all this stuff is gonna come out.”

In a legal notice published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail Tuesday, Feb. 6, Carter Bank and Trust estimated the value of the Greenbrier Sporting Club to be $250 million.

Justice insisted his focus will continue to be on the duties of his office.

“My kids got it, they got it and they’re on it,” he said. “I’m way, way, way in the background, and there’s no way on earth that I’m going to take one second of focus off of what my job has been since day one. I put up with this nonsense the whole time I’ve been here and everything. But absolutely, there’s no way I’ve taken my eye off the ball.”

The governor is not directly involved in the day-to-day operation of his family’s business dealings, which are overseen by his children. Earlier this month, two other creditors agreed to sell a helicopter to help settle a debt from another Justice-owned business.

Other Business

Earlier in the briefing, the governor announced funding for several programs as well as the success of several others. He began with broadband, announcing $33 million in Line Extension Advancement and Development (LEAD) Grants awarded to 10 projects by the West Virginia Broadband Investment Plan.

“These awards will enhance the broadband access in nine counties impacting 5,200 families and businesses together that previously lacked significant connectivity,” Justice said.

Justice also gave an update on Operation R.I.P. Potholes. Announced last week, the initiative aims to take advantage of recent clear weather to conduct road repairs.

“In that time, our DOH road crews have patched approximately 1,600 miles of roadway and laid down 1,250 tons of asphalt,” he said.

The governor also highlighted the recent graduation of 53 new West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officers, as well as recognizing zero staff vacancies at the Southern Regional Jail in Raleigh County.

“This accomplishment is especially noteworthy considering the facility had a 30 percent vacancy rate in September of 2023,” Justice said.

The Southern Regional Jail has been a focal point for community activists calling for reforms following the indictment of six former correctional officers in the beating death of Quantez Burks and the death of an additional inmate. Addressing the staffing shortage across the state’s correctional system was a focal point of the governor’s State of State address this year when he proposed $21 million for the pay increases for correctional officers.

Babydog

At the end of the briefing, Justice gave Babydog’s, his pet bulldog, prediction for the upcoming Super Bowl Sunday. He also acknowledged Babydog will undergo two surgeries to address leg injuries and asked for prayers.

“She’s got some probably tough stuff ahead,” Justice said. “Only thing is a Bulldog getting put to sleep two different times on two fairly significant surgeries isn’t any fun. But we’re going to take care of that and hope and pray everything comes out great there.”

WVNS’ Jessica Farrish first reported that the governor mentioned the impending surgeries Monday during an event at Midland Trails High School. He previously mentioned Babydog’s injury to explain her absence from the announcement of LG Electronics’ investment in the state at the start of the year. At the time, Justice said Babydog was injured due to her weight after jumping down from a chair.

Babydog gained national attention as the mascot for the state’s vaccination efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocates Call For Sweeping Reform In W.Va.’s Jail System

Advocates and families of incarcerated people in West Virginia will gather inside the capitol building in the lower rotunda on Saturday morning.

Following the indictment of six former correctional officers in the beating death of Quantez Burks and the death of an additional inmate at Southern Regional Jail, families will join the West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign (WVPPC) to challenge the state legislature, governor and West Virginia’s U.S. Senators at a press conference Saturday morning.

At 11 a.m. Repairers of the Breach President Bishop William J. Barber II, Forward Justice, clergy and community supporters will gather in the lower rotunda of the Capitol to call for a full federal investigation into local prisons by the Department of Justice.

Pam Garrison, one of the Chairs of the WVPPC said recent legislative measures aren’t even a Band-Aid to the problems within the system.

“They always get the little guys, the little guys are the ones who always pay the price,” Garrison said. “But the ones who are, who have instigated, who have put these policies in that has the lack of policy, the lack of oversight, the lack of accountability, that lies down Charleston.”

Advocates claim that in the past five years, at least 25 people have died at the Southern Regional Jail alone, with inmates reporting chronic understaffing, overcrowding and neglect. This claim is backed up by reporting from Mountain State Spotlight.

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.

“They put them in jail or they charge them with something like they’re trash, like they don’t matter, like they can just do anything to them,” Garrison said. “Well, I got news for them. They’ve got families and they got rights.”

Inmate Dies After He Was Found Unresponsive At Scrutinized West Virginia Jail

Correctional officers at Southern Regional Jail found the 24-year-old man unresponsive in his cell and attempted life-saving measures, according to a Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation statement. He was then taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, WCHS reported.

An inmate at a West Virginia jail scrutinized in lawsuits citing inmate deaths and alleging poor living conditions was pronounced dead Friday morning, officials said.

Authorities did not immediately provide further details or reveal the deceased inmate’s identity. The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Criminal Investigation Division and the West Virginia State Police have opened an investigation into the death.

Several former correctional officers with Southern Regional Jail were indicted last month by a federal grand jury in connection with the 2022 death of an incarcerated man who was beaten while handcuffed and restrained in an interview room and later a jail cell. They were also charged with trying to cover up their actions, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The indictments came weeks after two West Virginia corrections officers pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge stemming from the fatal beating of the same inmate, 37-year-old Quantez Burks. Burks was a pretrial detainee who died less than a day after he was booked into the Southern Regional Jail.

The state of West Virginia also agreed this year to pay $4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates who described conditions at the jail as inhumane. The lawsuit filed last year on behalf of current and former inmates described a lack of access to water and food at the facility, as well as overcrowding and fights that were allowed to continue until someone was injured.

Six Former Correctional Officers Charges With Federal Offenses

Six former correctional officers have been charged with federal offenses following the death of an inmate at Southern Regional Jail.

A federal grand jury in Charleston charged five former correctional officers in connection with an assault that resulted in the death of an inmate, identified by the initials, Q.B.

Those former correctional officers are Mark Holdren, 39, Cory Snyder, 29, Johnathan Walters, 35, Jacob Boothe, 25, and Ashley Toney, 23.

All five correctional officers, as well as a former lieutenant, Chad Lester, 33, were also charged with covering up the use of unlawful force.

The indictment alleges that, on March 1, 2022, Holdren, Snyder and Walters conspired with other officers at the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia, to use unlawful force against Q.B. to retaliate for his earlier attempt to leave his assigned pod.

The indictment further alleges that Holdren, Snyder and Walters struck and injured Q.B. while he was restrained and handcuffed, and that Boothe and Toney failed to intervene in the unlawful assault, resulting in Q.B.’s death.

The indictment alleges that all six defendants conspired to cover up the use of unlawful force by omitting material information and providing false and misleading information to investigators.

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 claim in many of these cases, a person died shortly following their arrival, sometimes within 24 hours.

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

One of the 13 inmates who died last year was Quantez Burks, also known in court documents as Q.B.

The maximum penalties are life in prison for each of the civil rights offenses, five years in prison for each of the false statement offenses, and twenty years in prison for each of the remaining offenses.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney William S. Thompson for the Southern District of West Virginia and FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael D. Nordwall of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Pittsburgh Field Office investigated the case.

Deputy Chief Christine M. Siscaretti and Trial Attorney Matthew Tannenbaum of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica Coleman for the Southern District of West Virginia are prosecuting the case.

Two Former Corrections Officers Plead Guilty In Inmate Death

On Thursday, Steven Nicholas Wimmer and Andrew Fleshman each pleaded guilty to conspiring with other officers to use unreasonable force against an inmate identified as “Q.B.” in court documents.

Steven Nicholas Wimmer and Andrew Fleshman each pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring with other officers to use unreasonable force against an inmate identified as “Q.B.” in court documents.

Wimmer and Fleshman are former corrections officers from the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia. On March 1, 2022, the officers admitted assaulted Q.B. resulting in his death.

According to their plea agreements, Wimmer and Fleshman each acknowledged that they separately responded to a call for officer assistance after Q.B. tried to push past another correctional officer and leave his assigned pod and that, when each arrived at the pod, Q.B. was on the floor as force was being used against him.

The officers then restrained and handcuffed Q.B.

Wimmer, Fleshman and other members of the conspiracy then escorted Q.B. to an interview room where members of the conspiracy aided and abetted each other, struck and injured Q.B. while he was restrained, handcuffed and posed no threat.

Wimmer and Fleshman each admitted that the members of the conspiracy struck and injured Q.B. in order to punish him for attempting to leave his assigned pod.

In his plea agreement, Fleshman admits that he was one of the members who injured Q.B. while he was restrained and posed no threat. He further admitted that he and others moved Q.B. from the interview room into a cell, where members of the conspiracy continued to strike and injure Q.B. while he was restrained, handcuffed and posed no threat to anyone.

Wimmer also admitted to striking and injuring Q.B. after he was brought to the cell in his plea agreement.

Wimmer and Fleshman each pleaded guilty on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023 before U.S. District Court Judge Frank W. Volk. They each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Sentencing hearings are scheduled for Feb. 22, 2024.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney William S. Thompson for the Southern District of West Virginia and Special Agent in Charge Michael D. Nordwall of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Pittsburgh Field Office is investigating the case.

Deputy Chief Christine M. Siscaretti and Trial Attorney Matthew Tannenbaum of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Deputy Criminal Chief Monica Coleman for the Southern District of West Virginia are prosecuting the case.

Two Top W.Va. Corrections Officials Fired, Missing Documents Found

The positions held by Brad Douglas, the former interim corrections commissioner and recent executive officer for the jails system, and Phil Sword, chief counsel for the homeland security agency have been terminated.

Abraham also said the emails, grievances and other documents requested in a class-action lawsuit against the state that were thought to be purged, have been recovered. He says all the information has been located in electronic and paper form at the Southern Regional Jail (SRJ) and is available to be turned over to the court.

The Wednesday firings follow a Justice media briefing where the governor said any parties guilty of intentionally destroying evidence should be terminated or jailed.

“When people are directed to not destroy something, or to supply something, and then they just don’t,” Justice said. “I think that it will be a very long and difficult day for those folk.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn ruled Monday that state employees intentionally destroyed emails and documents relating to a lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions at the Southern Regional Jail in Raleigh County.

In the briefing, Justice referred questions about the emails to his Homeland Security Secretary Mark Sorsaia, who said destroying the emails was not intentional. He said there were administrative failures in preserving that evidence and some people were disciplined.

In producing discovery evidence regarding the civil suit, the state was ordered to put a legal hold on the emails and documents that were later deleted. Sorsaia blamed an automatic email deletion policy regarding outgoing state employees. Abraham now says the documents deleted elsewhere have always been in possession of Corrections personnel at the SRJ.

Aboulhosn recommended a default judgment, holding the state liable for the charges in the lawsuit. Aboulhosn’s judgment will now go before District Judge Frank W. Volk to be confirmed. The defendants in the case have 14 days to object to the judgment and “modify or set aside any portion of the Order found clearly to be erroneous or contrary to law.”

WVPB knows of no action taken yet in light of the new discovery findings.

The judge also ordered the court clerk to send a copy of the order to the United States Attorney to consider an investigation of the West Virginia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations.