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Inmates having to sleep on floors in overcrowded West Virginia jails

By Douglas A. Berman

This local article, which is headlined "Official says inmates sleeping on jail floors," spotlights the problems of jail overcrowding in West Virginia. Here are excerpts: Officials say the issue of over-population has reached a critical point in the state's regional jails and prisons, with no clear-cut solution in sight. Joe Thornton, Secretary of Military Affairs and Public Safety, said the issue has gotten so bad, inmates have slept on mattresses on the floors of some facilities. The Regional Jail Authority took up the problem at its quarterly meeting Wednesday at South Central Regional Jail. One temporary solution has been the installation additional bunks at the 10 regional jails around the state.  The bunks will be mounted to the walls in the pods as per safety specifications, leaving less space for inmate and guard movement but providing additional beds, which officials hope keeps the inmates off the floors...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on November 12, 2010 (boomark / email).