David Kelly, the fresh commissioner of the state department for corrections and rehabilitation, will be shown during a legislative meeting at the beginning of this year. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
David Kelly, a current leader in the House of Delegate and the pastor from Tyler County, will assume the state’s difficulty and correctional facilities.
He spent 20 years in law enforcement authorities before serving in the legislative where the Republican headed a committee for prisons and prisons. Kelly started during a personnel crisis that had trained an emergency from 2022 to last year.
“My passion is to get in there and see what we can do to build on what we have to do better,” said Kelly, 68.
The West Virginia prison system is one of the most fatal in the country with a constant overcrowding. The over-populated prisons can lead to security and security problems that sometimes lead to people who are detained in daily rooms in the facility.
“The elephant in the room is overcrowding and so we have to work on it,” said Kelly.
From June 3, the regional prisons were 425, according to a spokesman for the state distribution of corrections and rehabilitations, about a capacity of 4,265. The prisons are 486 under capacity.
“West Virginia has one of the most overcrowded prison systems in the country. This leads to unfortunate conditions such as increasing violence, lack of access to basic medical care and sanitary facilities and humiliating practices such as people who have to sleep on floors,” said Rusty Williams, Advocacy Director of the American Citizens’ Liberties Union of West Virginia. “We hope that Commissioner Kelly will use his new position to give a compassionate and human approach to manage this system.”
This year, the legislators of the state passed several legislative templates that extended the crimes for crimes, including drug trafficking and flight from a police officer. It costs 35,000 US dollars a year for state prisoners.
“There are crimes we, when you are committed, make sure that the punishment [and] The conviction fits the crime, “said Kelly.
Lesley Nash is the lawyer of the mountain state Justice, a non -profit law firm who has sued the WV -DCCR for mental health care and medical care in 10 regional prisons.
She said that the state incarnates and often people with drug abuse problems detained due to minor property crimes. Sometimes individuals are detained after a family member called 911 to seek facilitate for drug abuse, said Nash.
“There are a large number of people we have in prisons and prisons who are in these facilities due to mental health or addiction problems,” said Nash. “What you need is aid in mental health.”
State improved prison staff, other problems persist
Governor Patrick Morrisey announced Kelly’s appointment as Commissioner of WV DCR on June 2. Lance Yardley worked as a reigning commissioner.
“It is difficult to tell the governor no when he called her and asked her to join his team. I am grateful that he did it.” Said Kelly.
In the leadership of the former DCR commissioner Billy Marshall, who recently appointed President Donald Trump as head of the Bundesburos of Prisons, the state was hired in the hiring of judicial officers. Kelly praised Marshall’s work and said he hoped to build on this vigorous.
The legislator has increased the salaries for uniformed civil servants and the DCR offered a special escalate in attitudes. The state was able to remove in 2024, who had filled out as a prison officer as a prison officer after reaching the full staff.
However, there are other problems remaining, and West Virginia faces numerous allegations and complaints about prison conditions, including excessive apply of violence and inadequate medical care. A lawsuit submitted in May states that the “inadequate medical care” in Eastern Regional Jail in Martensburg led to the death of a 25-year-old woman who had type 1 diabetes, together with a history of drug abuse.
In December, a federal court approved an agreement of more than $ 4 million in a class procedure for inmates in the Southern Regional prison and in the correctional facility in Raleigh County, the regrettable conditions claimed in prison. The lawsuit was submitted in 2023.
“I have to sit down with the team in Charleston and see where we are, and then speak to the governor and his people and see if they have plans that they want to implement, and then we will go from there,” said Kelly.
WebB asked Kelly to ensure that the prisons offer immediate access to high -quality health care, consistent and sanitary water and facilitate faster re -entry programs.
Several counties have difficulty paying their prison bills, Kelly noticed. West Virginia Counties pay the state per inmate and day in regional prisons. In 2022, prison calculations cost the 55 districts of the state a total of $ 45 million. Many local governments listed the fee as the greatest annual effort. A legal template of 2023, which is intended to take into account the costs for the district prison, has not solved the problem.
“I don’t know what the answer is. This is a problem. There are counties that just can’t pay,” said Kelly.
He will continue to serve a church in Wetzel County Pastor during his DCR commissioner.
“My faith leads me every day,” he said.
Kelly, who was elected for the first time in 2018, plans to withdraw from his headquarters in the Delegate House at the end of this month before officially starting his role as Commissioner. He serves as a deputy speaker in the house.
