By james art 
Charleston, WV (WOWK)-Governor Patrick Morrisi (R-WV) has announced that prisons and prisons in West Virginia are currently holding dozens of people who have been detained by immigration and application of US customs (ICE). A handful of people, however, ask the question: “Is the Department of Western Virginia (DCR) equipped to deal with the influx of people arrested by ice?”
According to the team of Governor Morrisi, 13 of the 72 people have detained, they have served a sentence in West Virginia since Friday. They are in the arrest of the state because before the governor Morrisi took office.
Forty -three people have been detained since January 20, 2025. Seventeen of them have been arrested on local charges and 20 have been arrested for immigration charges. The other six are held for US marshals facing federal charges. Twenty people have been sent outside the state on Friday, although these numbers are subject to change as the ice continues to make more raids.
However, data from the Western Virginia Budget and Policy Center shows that WV DCR is “overcrowded”, as said, criminal legal policy analyst Sarah Whitaker.
Whitaker shared with 13 news that “initially regional prisons were built to accommodate a total of 2883 people. Over the years, they have added barrels to reach 4 265 beds. “
Currently, regional prisons are 4,461 people. According to the Center for the Budget and Policy of West Virginia, six out of 10 prisons are above their “processed capacity”.
In addition, a handful of defenders have expressed fears about the violence and death in prisons in West Virginia, as 106 people have been killed in prisons since 2020, according to the Western Virginia Budget and Policy Center.
“Some of these deaths are particularly violent and we cannot always trust DCR to provide the right information about these deaths,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker cited the death of Kwantes Burks since March 2022 in the Southern Regional Prison, which was found beaten to death. Several correction staff were accused of his death, and the federal jury acknowledged that Chad Leicester guilty of Banks’ death on January 29. Burks was imprisoned in the southern regional prison for less than 24 hours before he died.
Kenny Matthew is a former prisoner in Illinois and West Virginia, who now helps to rehabilitate the people who leave prison and prison through the economic justice of the Western Virginia. He is an associate of the Committee for Service of American Friends. Matthew said the system was not equipped to cope with the influx of ice -arrested immigrants, given the statistics on the population and violence. He also said that there were concerns not only about human rights violations of immigrants, but also about human rights violations of US citizens in prison and the prison system in West Virginia.
“A really important piece of my life, which is why I do a lot of the work I do to guarantee that those who are imprisoned are treated ethically and fairly,” Matthew said. “It’s no secret. Western Virginia Prison Systems is one of the most deadly in the country. We had Quantez Burks and several other individuals in the southern regional prison killed by the hands of others, whether guards or prisoners. The fact is that conditions with DCR have created an environment to allow these deaths. “
Matthew quotes fears of overpopulation in state prisons and prisons, concerns about the disadvantages and costs of holding prisons as reasons why DCR is not able to properly house anyone who is retained on top of more than 4000 State prisoners.
“For me, this simply makes no sense in an economic point of view, or even in a common point of view of justice, to focus a lot of time and attention on something that is a civil violation. It is not a criminal statute that you do not have an undocumented status in the United States. This is a civil violation, “Matthew said. “Regardless of someone’s documented status, people are people. They deserve to be treated with respect, ethical, fair. “
Matthew continued: “Anything that would allow someone to be subordinate to abuse, neglect, abuse, children who break away from families, people trying to make a better life for themselves and stop this to happen , is a system that you really need to need. There are many people in the country who have religious beliefs. I look at it from this aspect, we are called to treat people the way we want to treat. We are called to love people. I don’t see how it shows love for people. “
“That doesn’t make sense. This is not a good policy. This will create more problems in the long run than help everything, “Matthew said.
According to the Center for the Budget and Policy of West Virginia, $ 44.7 million were charged in all state cities in 2024 to pay for prison. $ 479.1 million is the total cost of all prisons, prisons and minor centers in West Virginia. Whitaker said prisons cost $ 151.3 million to the state in 2024.
The governor’s team Morrisi said that “the state has a preliminary agreement with federal agencies, which will be restored to all prisoners we are detaining and shelter for them.” Ice and the US Marshall service are part of this Agreement.
According to ICE, 287G states that ICE agents can train and work together with state and local employees of the order to execute orders and arrests and prisoners.
State police in Western Virginia said in a statement that “State police in West Virginia will cooperate entirely with an enforcement order 10-25” signed by governor Morris, forcing state and local law enforcement agencies to work with ICE to detention.
Following the detention of more than 70 people in West Virginia, ACLU from West Virginia sent the following statement on Thursday:
“Let’s be clear: West Virginia has some of the most deadly, most pre -criticized prisons in the country. As a result, all the people who behave in these facilities are subjected to inhuman conditions. We are also concerned that ICE first holds people and later asks questions, which means that some of those who are thrown into immigration raids are potentially behaving without accusations. This is a violation of our rights of a proper process under the Constitution. We closely monitor the situation and keep all the legal variants of the table, “said ACLU West Virginia spokesman.