BECKLEY, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice and others are being sued for the conditions in the state’s regional jails and prisons.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of West Virginia Tuesday, seeks injunctive relief, forcing the state to do $270 million in deferred maintenance at the jails, prisons and juvenile facilities and spending at least $60 million to fill worker vacancies.
Beckley attorney Steve New, who represents the plaintiffs in the case, said part of the lawsuit is based on information provided by current and former members of the Justice administration who have given sworn depositions in a separate lawsuit about the conditions at the Southern Regional Jail. He said former state Homeland Security Secretary Jeff Sandy, former state Corrections Commissioner Betsy Jividen and current state Division of Corrections Chief of Staff Brad Douglas, were all very frank in those depositions.
“(They said) that these conditions have existed for over a decade. The overcrowding in particular, the understaffing issue, while it got better before the pandemic has gotten much worse,” New told MetroNews.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Mount Olive State Prison inmate Thomas Sheppheard, regional jail inmate Tyler Randall and a juvenile inmate in one of state’s juvenile facilities. The lawsuit seeks class action status.
The lawsuit alleges approximately 10,000 state inmates are living in inhumane conditions.
“Despite these constitutional and statutory requirements, Defendants have subjected inmates housed at all the states correctional facilities and other such facilities throughout the State of West Virginia, including Plaintiffs, to inhumane living conditions, deprived them of basic human necessities, and acted with deliberate indifference towards the health and safety of inmates,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also alleges overcrowding causing inmates “to endure genuine privations and hardship over an extended period of time” may give rise to violations of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.”
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday afternoon as state lawmakers were working their way through a special session agenda that includes six bills dealing with corrections issues including pay raises for correctional workers and retention bonuses for non-uniformed personnel. New said he appreciates the work but it doesn’t go far enough.
“Their people (Justice administration) are in depositions in my case saying that 50 to 60 million dollars needs spent yet they only put a bill forth to do 25 million dollars to address staffing and nothing as it relates to the 270 million dollars to address deferred maintenance,” New said.
MORE read lawsuit exhibits here
New said former Justice administration cabinet secretary Jeff Sandy made some enlightening testimony in his deposition in the Southern Regional Jail case.
“Secretary Sandy said we go to the budget office, we go to the legislators, we go to our chain of command through the governor’s office and we ask repeatedly that these situations be rectified and nothing happens it seems,” New said.
The lawsuit says the correctional officer shortage is the worst it’s been in decades and state leaders should use the budget surplus to fix the problems with staffing, overcrowding and deferred maintenance.
“This state needs to get serious about the conditions of its jails, prisons and juvenile facilities and it needs to get serious about what it wants to do with rampant staffing issues,” New said.
He added West Virginia has a history of dragging its feet on similar issues.
“It took 46 years to even develop a regional jail system. It took 20 years after that to get the regional jails open. It took 12 years after Moundsville (state prison) was found to be unconstitutional to open Mount Olive for a prison. The West Virginia government doesn’t get in a hurry about anything where prisoners are concerned,” New said.
The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to prohibit the state from housing inmates in the current conditions.
Gov. Justice had no comment Tuesday evening but he does a media briefing set for Wednesday.