A federal lawsuit lodged by inmates, who depicted the conditions at Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia as inhumane, has been settled, according to U.
S. District Judge Frank Volk on Tuesday.
This development comes a week after a magistrate judge alleged intentional destruction of some records related to the suit.
The lawsuit, filed last year, was on behalf of both current and former inmates of the jail. It highlighted issues such as inadequate access to food and water, overcrowding, and unchecked fights until injuries occurred.
The defendants in the lawsuit included Betsy Jividen, the former state corrections commissioner who resigned in August 2022; Jeff Sandy, the retired State Department of Homeland Security Secretary; Brad Douglas, the recently dismissed Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Executive Officer; William Marshall, the newly appointed corrections commissioner; and Mike Francis, the former superintendent of Southern Regional Jail.
Douglas and Phil Sword, the Homeland Security Chief Counsel, were dismissed last week following a federal magistrate judge's citation of intentional destruction of records, which led to a recommendation for a default judgment in the lawsuit. This was subsequent to an early October hearing where both former and current corrections officials, including some defendants, admitted to not preserving evidence at the jail, such as emails and documents.
Testimony at the hearing revealed that the email accounts of Jividen, Francis, and others were deleted post their departure from their respective positions.
Brian Abraham, Chief of Staff for Republican Governor Jim Justice, denied any attempts by the administration to delete emails across any agency. He attributed the deletions to an unnamed attorney who was aware of the ongoing litigation and, according to Abraham, failed to prevent the deletions.
Governor Justice claimed that an investigation he commissioned into the jail conditions found no evidence of inhumane treatment. However, various news outlets reported over a dozen deaths at the Southern Regional Jail last year.
Judge Volk stated that the lawsuit's resolution does not encompass other parties, including two medical providers and seven county commissions that house inmates at the jail. The parties involved in the lawsuit believe a limited class-action settlement fund needs to be established, and a status conference has been scheduled for Thursday.
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