‘Handcuffs shouldn’t kill you.’ That’s the slogan for advocates for change in Southern Regional Jail. West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign has taken the autopsy reports, family member’s letters… and argue that things need to change in West Virginia Jails.
“To (Senator Joe) Manchin (D-WV), to (Shelley Moore Capito) (R-WV), to (Congresswoman Carol) Miller (R-WV), to (Congressman Alex) Mooney (R-WV)… got a hold of Reverend (William) Barber in national — to help us put a letter into the Department of Justice/Civil Rights Division — that we want West Virginia investigated,” said PP Campaign tri-county chair, Pam Garrison. “This needs to stop.”
With fifteen deaths in the last two years at Southern Regional Jail, the PP Campaign wants justice for the families and urges West Virginia lawmakers to start taking accountability.
“The overcrowding, the inhumane conditions, the intimidation and brutality, the lack of medical care. I mean the list goes on and on,” Garrison said.
According to the tri-county chair, Governor Justice and the legislature keep pointing fingers back and forth. The PP Campaign says they both have to do something. They want the governor to call a special session about this system that is unjust and broken.
“As we’ve seen from the state police, and different departments in West Virginia there has been corruption, there has been incompetence,” said Garrison said. “There has been malice, meanness.”
She says if one goes into Southern Regional Jail they may not come out.
“Once they get you in the system… they keep beating you down, beating you down, you don’t have a chance.
She’s very concerned.
“People are dying… West Virginia Mountaineers are dying.”
TO GET INVOLVED:
https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/committee/west-virginia
https://www.facebook.com/WVPPC/
