Judge dismisses lawsuit over West Virginia jails, prisons conditions

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and West Virginia Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mark Sorsaia.

The lawsuit was filed on Aug. 8, 2023 , alleging that more than 10,000 inmates in the Mountain State are being exposed to inhumane conditions because of staffing shortages and lack of maintenance at correctional facilities.

According to court documents, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of an inmate at Mount Olive Correctional Complex, an inmate at Southwestern Regional Jail and a juvenile at the Don R. Kuhn Juvenile Center. The plaintiffs alleged Justice and Sorsaia in their professional capacities “failed to alleviate pervasive conditions of overcrowding, understaffing, and deferred maintenance at all such facilities for over a decade.”

The court documents state that both Sorsaia and Justice requested motions to dismiss the case because the plaintiffs “cannot establish that their alleged injuries are fairly traceable to either Defendant’s conduct,” and that a decision against the defendant would not remedy or set right those injuries. The court documents reference Frank Krasner Enters., Ltd. v. Montgomery County , a 2001 Maryland case that states while the defendants’ conduct does not need to be the last link in the casual chain of connection, the plaintiff must be able to demonstrate that the defendant caused alleged harm, not the “independent action” of a third party not involved in the case.

In the case against Justice and Sorsaia, the judge also ruled that the plaintiff’s injuries are traceable to and could be made right by the “independent action of the state Legislature and Commissioner of DCR, neither of which are parties to this matter,” not the governor and the secretary.

At the time this lawsuit was filed, West Virginia had been in a State of Emergency regarding the financial and staffing problems at the state’s county jails for nearly a year. Justice declared that State of Emergency on Aug. 11, 2022.

The governor ended the State of Emergency on May 24, 2024. He said while there is still work to be done, the state has made “real progress” in hiring new corrections officers and remedying staffing shortages in jails across the state.

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