CHARLESTON – The state Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking to have some prisoners released because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
ACLU West Virginia and Mountain State Justice had filed the petition April 9, saying some inmates could serve the remainder of their sentences at home. They argued that the 39 inmates mentioned in the petition were more at risk of being infected while being incarcerated.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey applauded the court’s April 23 order dismissing the petition.
“I’ve been very deeply concerned with some of the petitions that we have seen from Mountain State Justice and the ACLU, which would potentially allow a broad array of prisoners, including some potentially violent criminals, to be released during this pandemic,” Morrisey said. That’s a real problem.
“I am very hopeful that the courts will continue to recognize that these are very serious issues and that, while everyone needs to be treated well from a public health perspective during the pandemic, this has to be managed the right way.”
Last month, the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation unveiled a plan following U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
In a statement, ACLU-WV said it had happed the court would order all parties to get together and work collectively on the petition. It also said some of the individuals in the petition have been released.
“Jails and prisons are no place to be in a viral pandemic,” the group said in its statement. “These crowded, poorly ventilated and often unsanitary facilities are breeding grounds for disease, making incarcerated people and corrections workers vulnerable to infection.
“Prison walls will not contain a virus as contagious as COVID-19. This is a public health crisis waiting to happen.”
ACLU-WV also noted that the petitioners might use the option of filing in circuit court.
“Across the country, we’re seeing jails and prisons become hotspots for infection,” ACLU-WV said in its statement. “In recent days, officials in Arkansas have revealed that more than 850 people have been infected with COVID-19 at Cummins prison.
“In Ohio, more than 1,900 people at Marion Correctional Institution have been infected with COVID-19. Now is not the time for delay. A study released yesterday by ACLU National and academic partners shows that, without swift action to release as many inmates as possible, an additional 100,000 people could die nationwide from the virus.
“We must act quickly to ensure we don’t have a catastrophe on our hands.”
Meanwhile, a federal court did agree with ACLU-WV’s request that documents relating to the state’s COVID-19 plan in correctional facilities be made publicly available.
ACLU-WV filed a motion to intervene in an ongoing federal civil case – Baxley v. Jividen – earlier this month to request that the plan, held under seal at the time, be made public, along with eight other documents relating to the plan that were also held under seal.
Shortly after ACLU-WV filed to intervene, the state released a partially redacted copy of the plan. Other documents ACLU-WV had requested remained under seal at the time.
The judge’s April 23 order unsealed most of the remaining documents, including the redacted COVID_19 response plan, affidavits from state corrections officials relating to COVID-19 in jails and prisons, headcounts of adult inmates in the state’s custody and affidavits from plaintiffs’ expert in the case providing an analysis of the state’s plan and implementation of that plan.
“This is a win for transparency,” ACLU-WV Legal Director Loree Stark said in a statement. “The Division of Corrections has tried to keep a lot of this information under lock and key. We’re thankful the judge disagreed and ordered almost everything that we asked for to be unsealed.
“The First Amendment affords the public a presumptive right to court records. These documents will hopefully give the loved ones of incarcerated individuals some insight into how the state intends to keep the people in its custody safe from infection of this deadly disease.”
ACLU-WV said it will continue to call on the state to release as many inmates and prisoners as possible to help avoid the spread of the virus in these overcrowded and unsanitary facilities. Numerous correctional facilities around the country have become hotspots for infection.
West Virginia Supreme Court case number 20-0259