Officials says National Guard will be out of West Virginia jails soon

Pat Mirandy, chief of staff for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, speaks to the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority on Monday, April 15, 2024 in Charleston, W.Va. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography)

West Virginia’s jail system soon will no longer need staffing support from the West Virginia National Guard, lawmakers were told Monday.

Eighty members of the National Guard — down from 413 in January — are still working in jail facilities in the state, Pat Mirandy, chief of staff for the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told members of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority .

Mirandy told the committee the agency’s recruiting has been “nothing more than miraculous over the last few months.”

Since January, the division has hired 291 correctional officers and 49 non-uniformed personnel, he said. Currently, 429 correctional vacancies and 414 total vacancies remain, he said.

By mid-May, Mirandy said, five National Guard members will remain in the jails doing administrative paperwork to close out the Guard from the jail facilities, he said.

“But we shouldn’t have any soldiers in our facility if our plan goes as we’ve been working on it,” Mirandy said.

West Virginia’s jails have long faced problems with understaffing and overcrowding and have some of the highest mortality rates in the country. In 2022, Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency to address staffing issues within the state’s jails. The emergency declaration allowed the National Guard to support the jails by filling positions at the facilities.

In August, lawmakers approved legislation meant to address long-standing issues with the state’s jails and correctional facilities, including raising the pay scale for uniformed correctional officers and offering two bonuses for non-uniformed staff members.

Jail employees have been throughout the state recruiting at job fair events, Mirandy said.

A bill that would have increased pay for non-uniformed jail staffers was introduced during the regular legislative session but died in committee .

Committee chairman Del. David Kelly, R- Tyler, told Mirandy to pass along a message to non-uniformed staff members.

“Tell them we are going to introduce that bill until we get it passed,” Kelly said. “Because we know that they are heroes. They were here when we needed them. They stepped up and did the job we asked them to do. Tell them that they won’t be forgotten.”

The post Officials says National Guard will be out of West Virginia jails soon appeared first on West Virginia Watch .