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Latest Lawsuit Against DCR: Medical Neglect That Led To Death Of A Prisoner

A new lawsuit alleges an imprisoned person wasn’t given adequate medical care at the Southern Regional Jail and it led to his death. The lawsuit was filed by Steve New, who has other pending litigation with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

John Lewis Jarrell was in custody for approximately six days before he was transported by ambulance to Beckley Regional Hospital, where he soon died. His mother Martha Jarrell is the plaintiff in the lawsuit.

His Medical Condition and Needs

Jarrell was taken into custody in relation to a prior arrest on June 27 for possession with intent to distribute. He had a medical history of tonsil and throat cancer, which resulted in him having a PEG, or feeding tube.

Jarrell, due to his condition, could not tolerate liquids by mouth. However, according to the suit, he had been given Gatorade by mouth. The lawsuit alleges that Jarrell likely choked on these liquids causing him to aspirate. Aspiration is when solids or liquids enter the lungs — it often leads to pneumonia.

According to the lawsuit, Jarrell was supposed to receive at least 36 cans of a calorie and protein dense liquid over the six days. According to documentation, he only received 9-12 cans.

The Timeline

On Oct. 20, two days into his stay, Jarrell appeared “chronically ill, and emaciated” according to a medical evaluation. It was noted that he was dehydrated.

The next day, Oct. 21, according to the lawsuit, his blood pressure was low. He had a high heart rate with a low blood-oxygen level. There is no record of any medical intervention to address his conditions.

The two days following, Oct. 22 and 23, there were no vital signs recorded.

The next day, early in the morning, Jarrell was transported to the hospital. Prior to transport, his blood oxygen was 53 percent, and he had a heart rate of 32 beats per second. At the hospital he was intubated due to acute respiratory failure. He died at the hospital and his cause of death was listed as sepsis and pneumonia.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, however they did not respond before this story’s publication.

Judge Finds Corrections Records ‘Intentionally’ Destroyed; Finds Justice Doesn’t Have To Sit For Deposition

Emails and other documents related to a lawsuit against the West Virginia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR) were “intentionally” destroyed by the state of West Virginia, and a federal magistrate has recommended that the case be resolved in favor of the plaintiffs suing the state.

Emails and other documents (ESI) related to a lawsuit against the West Virginia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR) were “intentionally” destroyed by the state of West Virginia, and a federal magistrate has recommended that the case be resolved in favor of the plaintiffs suing the state.

In a 39-page order, entered into the court record on Oct. 30, U.S. Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn said:

“There are many notable instances in the record that demonstrate the WVDCR Defendants’ utter disregard for the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, let alone their own policies governing the preservation of discovery – to say the Court found the testimony elicited from these Defendants shocking is a gross understatement.”

The lawsuit was filed in September 2022 against Southern Regional Jail, the West Virginia Division of Corrections and every county commission that pays Southern Regional Jail to house inmates.

The suit names former Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation leaders Betsy Jividen, Brad Douglas and former Department of Homeland Security Commissioner Jeff Sandy as defendants. The suit alleges inhumane and unsanitary conditions exist for inmates at the Southern Regional Jail (SRJ) in Raleigh County.

In a separate ruling by Aboulhosn, Gov. Jim Justice and Chief of Staff Brian Abraham will not be compelled to sit for a deposition, but Justice is still required to disclose “any and all documentation concerning: the dismissal of the defendant Jividen; the dispatch of the defendant Sandy to inspect the SRJ on March 30, 2023; and either interested party’s involvement or knowledge of ESI preservation.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs had wanted Justice and Abraham to testify because they noted “Defendant Jeff Sandy has previously testified that for several years his department requested of the governor’s office funding to address pervasive overcrowding, pervasive understaffing, over two hundred million dollars in deferred maintenance. These issues go to the heart of the plaintiffs’ claims in this action. Additionally, defendant Sandy also testified that the Chief of Staff tasked the Secretary of Homeland Security to personally drive to Beaver, West Virginia and investigate the situation at Southern Regional Jail (SRJ), specifically, issues concerning toilet paper, water, and mattresses.”

There is significant case law that keeps high-ranking officials from being forced to testify except under “exceptional circumstance” and the judge ruled against the efforts to make Justice and Abraham do so.

To establish “exceptional circumstances” are present, a party seeking to depose a non-party high-ranking government official must satisfy three conditions: (1) the party must “make an actual showing that the [government official] ‘possesses personal knowledge relevant to the litigation’ ”; (2) the deposition must be “essential to that party’s case”; and (3) the evidence the deposition will elicit “is not available through any alternative source or less burdensome means.”

Aboulhosn determined those conditions were not met because “…it would appear to the Court that the Governor and his Chief of Staff have made appropriate accommodations to the requests pursuant to the Plaintiffs’ subpoena without interfering with their immunities endorsed under the prevailing jurisprudence.”

Another statewide federal lawsuit filed this past August names Justice and Homeland Security Secretary Mark Sorsaia as defendants.

Also a class-action civil suit, 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 West Virginia Legislature to correct these issues.

The suit, filed by Beckley attorney Steve New, who represents the plaintiffs who are inmates of the state, asks the court to prohibit Justice and Sorsaia from housing inmates in what the suit calls “unconstitutional conditions.”

Three key corrections bills passed in an August special legislative session 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.

Senate Bill 1005 earmarks $21.1 million to increase starting pay and change pay scales for correctional officers. Senate Bill 1003 and Senate Bill 1004 provide nearly $6 million for one-time bonuses for correctional support staff, divided into two payments that begin in October. The legislated fixes only cover a small percentage of the class action lawsuit demands.

In the case of the Southern Regional Jail and the missing documents, on Oct. 2, the federal magistrate judge held a hearing to compel the state to produce what is called “discovery.” That includes documents and information relevant to the case.

This hearing followed several attempts by the plaintiffs to get the documents.

On Oct. 13, at the judge’s instruction, the plaintiffs filed a “Motion for a Finding of Spoliation and for Sanctions Against Defendants Jeff Sandy, Brad Douglas, Betsy Jividen, and William Marshall, III.”

In his summation Aboulhosn noted that:

“Multiple witnesses took the stand and testified that the law and regulations governing the preservation of evidence were not followed. As detailed above, this the undersigned believes the failure to preserve the evidence that was destroyed in this case was intentionally done and not simply an oversight by the witnesses.”

In his ruling, Aboulhosn determined that a default judgment in the case is warranted. He said “while the Plaintiffs themselves acknowledge they have overwhelming evidence of the unconstitutional conditions of overcrowding, understaffing, and deferred maintenance, the undersigned refuses to ignore the Defendants’ willful blindness, or to put more succinctly, their intentional failure to preserve evidence they were obligated to preserve.”

Throughout the ruling, Aboulhosn expressed his frustration at the situation.

“[T]he undersigned is outraged…this Court spent numerous valuable hours holding hearings, video conferences, researching and drafting orders to facilitate discovery in this matter, and all for nought.

“With that said, the undersigned readily acknowledges that the recommendation of default judgment to the District Judge in this case, is extraordinary, but clearly warranted considering the intentional conduct in this case and other cases that came before the undersigned.”

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.”

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 WVDCR.

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.”

Another Inmate Dies In W.Va. Custody

A thus-far unnamed 30-year-old Mercer County man was found dead Friday morning by apparent suicide at the Southern Regional Jail, according to authorities with the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Another incarcerated person in West Virginia has passed away in custody.

Andy Malinoski, director of marketing and communications at the West Virginia Department of Commerce, said in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting that no additional information is available at this time as the incident is under investigation by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Criminal Investigation Division.

“The West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation is committed to the safety, quality of life, and wellbeing of those in the care of the legal system in our state,” Malinoski said. “We empathize with the friends and families of those that have experienced the loss of a loved one that was placed in our care.”

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.

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.

Just days after the protesters marched into the state capitol to hand deliver a petition to Gov. Jim Justice, family members of William Samples identified him as the latest death of an incarcerated individual in West Virginia jails on March 14.

During the rally, the Poor People’s Campaign called for a federal investigation into the ongoing deaths at West Virginia’s jails.

West Virginia State Police are investigating Samples’ death.

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.

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.