Judge dismisses class action lawsuit against state leaders over prison conditions in West Virginia

WEST VIRGINIA (WCHS) — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a class action lawsuit against West Virginia’s governor and a cabinet secretary over alleged prison conditions.

U.S. District Judge Irene Berger dismissed the 2023 class action lawsuit on the grounds that West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Sorsaia were not liable for the alleged facts set out in the lawsuit, court documents said.

The lawsuit alleges that Justice and Sorsaia failed to alleviate “widespread conditions of overcrowding, understaffing and deferred maintenance” at the state’s facilities over a period of more than a decade and demanded more than $270 million in deferred maintenance.

It also asked the state to spend $60 million to fill vacancies. The state has since said it has alleviated the staffing shortage enough to allow West Virginia National Guard members to be withdrawn from the state’s prisons.

Berger concluded in her ruling that the lawsuit did not establish a “causal connection” between Justice and the alleged problems in the state’s prisons. The judge also said the plaintiffs failed to prove that the alleged problems were caused by Sorsaia’s actions or omissions.

The judge also noted that the court does not have the authority to order the governor to take the “discretionary measures” called for in the case, and that it is “speculative” whether a favorable ruling would resolve the inmates’ alleged problems.

A similar lawsuit on behalf of 9,200 inmates held at the Southern Regional Jail over a period of about three years was settled in November for a total of $4 million.