BECKLEY, W.Va. — Attorney Steve New says he was informed Monday that a federal investigation is now underway in connection with the conditions at the Southern Regional Jail in Beckley.
New is one of the plaintiffs attorneys that filed a federal class action lawsuit in connection with those conditions a few weeks ago.
The state has confirmed the federal investigation is underway and is cooperating.
The Southern Regional Jail has been the “subject of many questions and concerns” since March, West Virginia Department of Homeland Security Deputy General Counsel Morgan Switzer told the Beckley Register-Herald in an email.
Switzer also told the newspaper “the agency has been subject to multiple reviews, some of which are ongoing … Our Department is committed to holding bad actors accountable, and will continue to cooperate with the federal government to uphold and improve the safety and security of our facilities.”
Five inmates have died at the jail in the past year.
“There are some serious problems,” New said. “This is the United States of America. Nobody believes a jail should be a country club but it shouldn’t be a gulag either.”
New said the lawsuit was amended in recent days to now include Pennsylvania-based Wexford Health Sources that took over providing medical care at the jail on July 1.
“We have reason to believe that the medical lack of attention and the neglect that’s going on there continues,” New said.
The amended lawsuit now includes top Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials as defendants.
The lawsuit now also includes allegations that the state’s investigation has been a sham.
“It really has been a coverup we think,” New said. “We think that certain actors within the state agencies have conspired to try to at a minimum downplay the conditions or cover it up,” New said.
The state’s corrections system has been dealing with severe employee shortage. State Homeland Security Secretary Jeff Sandy told state lawmakers last month there were more than 1,000 vacancies in the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“I hate to tell you that once COVID hit, as of today we have 1,015 vacancies,” Sandy told lawmakers.
New said despite those vacancies other regional jails seem to be operating better than the Southern Regional Jail.
“By and large the other regional jails seem to be run well. I don’t know how the Southern Regional came to be in the shape that it’s been in but it’s by far and away the worst,” New said.