FLASHBACK: Penitentiary Closed As A Result Of Constitutional Deficiencies
When the West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville was first constructed in the late 1800’s, it was hailed as a model correctional facility. One hundred years later, that same facility was decried as one of the absolute worst facilities in the United States. Times surely do change.
The attention of the West Virginia Supreme Court was initially drawn to the Penitentiary in Moundsville in the case of inmate Jesse White. White, a convicted murderer, found the conditions in prison to be so poor that he began a hunger strike in protest. After losing nearly 100 pounds, prison officials moved to force-feed inmate White to prevent what they felt was his imminent death. White objected, and filed suit in Marshall County Circuit Court to prevent interference with his death wish. Although the Supreme Court ultimately determined that prison officials had a right to force feed White (who ironically had since ended his strike, became head chef in the prison kitchen, and gained 40 pounds), the justices noted there were “multiple” habeas corpus petitions pending in Marshall County, all protesting the allegedly horrific conditions at the prison.
One such petition was brought by inmate Robert Crain. He filed his petition in 1981, alleging that conditions at the prison were so intolerable that confinement in the facility amounted to cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the United States Constitution. Crain’s petition was consolidated with a multitude of similar petitions filed by other inmates, and the slow death of the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville had begun.
The Supreme Court appointed Judge Arthur M. Recht to preside over the habeas cases. Evidence and testimony at the hearing painted a picture of deplorable, inhumane conditions within the prison walls. The U.S. Department of Justice commissioned a study which concluded that the prison at Moundsville was among the ten worst in the entire United States. Inmates testified to temperatures in their tiny, 5 x 7 foot, two-man cells that ranged from sub-freezing to over 100 degrees. Raw sewage flushed from one cell often ended up on the floor of an adjoining cell, causing a persistent stench that was suffocating. Experts who had toured the prison testified that the conditions were “grossly inadequate” and “substantially below minimum constitutional standards”. Two experienced experts indicated the prison was the worst either of them had ever seen. Even the prison warden was forced to admit that his policy had been to avoid spending a nickel on improving conditions at the facility, which he viewed as too old and too far gone to be renovated.
On June 21, 1983, the circuit court issued a seventy-five page opinion painstakingly detailing the deficiencies and finding that, when considered in their totality, they did indeed render the facility unconstitutional. The court ordered the Department of Corrections to submit a plan to remedy the deficiencies and bring the totality of conditions up to constitutional standards.
Judge Recht resigned from the bench in 1983 and was replaced by Special Judge John F. Bronson. Judge Bronson approved the Department of Corrections’ compliance plan over the objections of the Appellants and they appealed to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The opening lines of the opinion written by Chief Justice Miller set the stage for everything that followed: “It is difficult to accurately summarize the deplorable conditions that were found to exist at the WVP”.
On appeal, the West Virginia Supreme Court found that the plan approved by Special Judge F. Bronson did not meet the detailed requirements set forth in the final order. As a result, a revised compliance plan was submitted, but rejected. Ultimately, the Court concluded that the conditions were so deplorable that closing the penitentiary was the only alternative. As a result, the West Virginia Penitentiary closed on March 27, 1995. Through the judicial process, the protection against cruel and unusual punishments became more than ink and paper. It became a reality.
Crain v. Bordenkircher, 176 W.Va. 338, 342 S.E.2d 422 (1986)
