People gathered outside the governor’s office on Saturday to draw attention to conditions in West Virginia’s jails system.
“This is a human rights issue,” said Bishop William Barber, a nationally known social activist who is co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.
“Jails that are supported by your tax dollars are becoming coffins for people who, if they are guilty of a crime, should be able to serve their time, pay their debt to society and keep living.”
Their remarks were prompted, most recently, by a Dec. 22, death at the Southern Regional Jail. The state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation said a 24-year-old man was found unresponsive in his cell.
They also called attention to 100 deaths in the state’s jails over the past decade. In the last five years, at least 25 people have died at the Southern Regional Jail.
“Not one time did the judge say it was a death sentence. And even if it was a death sentence, no security guard or jailer has a right to execute, to strangle, to bludgeon to death, to beat — so something smells in West Virginia,” Barber said.
Six former West Virginia corrections officers have been indicted in the beating death of Quantez Burks, a pretrial defendant at Southern Regional Jail, in a “blind spot” not monitored by a surveillance system after he was restrained, handcuffed and in the custody of multiple officers.
Five of the officers are accused of playing direct roles in his death, depriving Burks of his civil rights, while another is accused of taking part in a coverup.
The six corrections officers join two others who already pleaded guilty to depriving Burks of his rights. So a total of eight corrections officers have now been implicated the actions surrounding his beating death at the jail.
Burks, 37, had only been in jail 24 hours. He had been arrested Feb. 28, 2022, and charged with wanton endangerment and obstructing an officer, allegations related to discharging a firearm at his home during an argument. He died March 1.
The central allegation is that after Burks tried to push past a corrections officer and leave the jail’s C-pod, officers restrained him in handcuffs and beat him in an interview room. The indictment alleges the officers forcibly walked him to the interview room that was already occupied by an inmate, who was ordered to leave.
The officers then repeatedly struck and assaulted Burks, the indictment alleges, before forcibly walking him to another location known as the A-pod and he collapsed on the floor. Even after that, the indictment alleges, the beatings continued.
His mother, Kimberly Burks, has been outspoken and appeared at the Capitol on Saturday.
“Can we get some help Jim Justice?” she said, referring to the governor. “Can we get some help from the senators from West Virginia? Can we get some help? That’s all we’re asking.”
Those who gathered at the Capitol alluded to a federal investigation of West Virginia’s jails system. Conditions in the jails system are also the subject of a federal lawsuit demanding hundreds of millions of dollars be spent on deferred maintenance and to fill worker vacancies.
Last month, officials testified before lawmakers at interim committee meetings that conditions are improving in state jails, focusing their comments on Southern Regional Jail.
“I can tell you, the problems that we had to deal with, from a structural argument that, you know, the jail wasn’t fit and was overcrowded and dirty and people weren’t fed and all that, those problems do not — I believe — do not exist today,” state Homeland Security Secretary Mark Sorsaia told lawmakers.
“We’ve done a great job. Quite frankly, I’m kind of amazed how we turned those alleged problems around. When I say ‘alleged,’ to exactly give you a definition of the extent of the problem, is difficult. And I will concede we had problems.”
Sorsaia said he visited Southern Regional Jail earlier in the fall and “I haven’t seen a jail in better shape.” His visits to other facilities around the state led him to say, “I couldn’t find any problems. I couldn’t find a problem to write down. I’d have to look for one.
“I talked to the inmates. I saw how the facility was being run. They were clean. I saw the food. I talked to inmates. I talked to the supervisors of the institutions.”
The Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority meets again during interim meetings at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
At the Capitol on Saturday, the people who gathered called on Gov. Jim Justice, Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Shelley Moore Capito to increase their scrutiny of conditions in the jails. Organizers also said they would return in greater numbers March 2, late in the coming legislative session.
“So that’s why we stand in front of the office of Jim Justice today. Live yup to your name, Jim Justice, here to do your job,” Barber said.
“Senator Manchin, since you’re leaving the Senate, you got plenty of time to come here and fix this mess before you leave. Don’t act as though you have so many answers for America. I don’t know what the middle is — mobilize the middle, but you can’t mobilize to clean up this mess.”
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January 07, 2024 at 09:21AM
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Crowd gathers to urge state officials to focus on West Virginia jail conditions - West Virginia MetroNews
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