CHARLESTON, W.Va – Officials overseeing the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR) are asking for better accountability in the state’s jails with hopes of cutting down avoiding costly lawsuits.
During a budget hearing last week, acting state Secretary of Homeland Security Douglas Buffington II explained why WVDCR wants to put body cameras on its officers. He said the money owed to the state’s Board of Insurance and Risk Management (BRIM) as a result of litigation is becoming a burden.
“Every week, I go through the litigation and see what we need to settle or whether we need to go to trial on behalf of Corrections and Homeland Security, but because of all the litigation that goes on, we have a lot of costs that we owe to BRIM,” he said.
Buffington stated that he and WVDCR Commissioner David Kelly agree that the best avenue to cut down on litigation costs would be outfitting corrections officers with body cameras. The ultimate goal is to require greater accountability out of both the officers and the inmates.
“The concept is that if I’m wearing a body camera, I might act in a way to not get myself in trouble. I also believe it’s going to keep someone from making up things about what I did,” Buffington said.
One of the issues facing WVDCR is the variety of lawsuits it encounters on a regular basis. According to Buffington, it faces legal action from numerous angles, including everything from violence in the jails to injuries during transportation.
“There are many cases that people got hurt. There are people who are hurt in car accidents being transported. There are inmates who have inmate-on-inmate violence. There are guards that, perhaps, get overly eager with pepper spraying or physically restraining somebody,” he said.
As the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation aims to tighten its belt under the Morrisey administration, several changes were proposed during the hearing. Buffington reiterated that he believes limiting legal costs is the best method and that adding body cameras is the way to do it.
“For the current timeframe, I think the best option for reducing cost is litigation,” he said.