ISSUES UPDATED — Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Commissioner David Kelly briefs lawmakers Tuesday on issues facing West Virginia’s correction system during legislative interim meetings in Charleston. -- Photo Courtesy/WV Legislative Photography

CHARLESTON — While the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation has improved its ability to fill vacancies for entry-level correctional officers, retirements of experienced officers are causing concern.

Correctional officer retirements were just one of several issues raised Tuesday morning during a briefing by Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Commissioner David Kelly before the Legislative Oversight Committee on Corrections and Public Safety on the final day of October legislative interim meetings at the State Capitol Building.

According to Kelly, there were 46 retirements of experienced correctional officers in calendar year 2024 and 40 retirements so far this year.

“We believe that the numbers will reach into the 50s this year,” Kelly said. “Just for a little bit of understanding, that could be nearly 100 retirees in 2024 and 2025, and that’s about 3,000 years of experience when you put it bluntly.”

In contrast, improvements to pay structures and recruitment efforts have greatly improved retention rates for new correctional officers. According to DCR, the retention rate for correctional officer classifications one, two and three was 77% across the entire division, with some individual facilities seeing correctional officer retention rates of 85% or higher.

“We have a deep bench at DCR. We’re planning to move forward and place people in the proper positions. It’s not an easy task, but we will get it done,” Kelly said. “Not only are we working diligently towards filling correctional officer vacancies and non-uniform vacancies; we’re also striving to replace the upper tier of our division.”

Kelly said one of the division’s biggest challenges remains recruitment and retention of correctional officers and non-uniformed correctional employees for facilities bordering other states. The Legislature has appropriated additional funding in those areas to address critical vacancies.

The latest count of inmates includes 4,814 in the state’s 10 regional jails, 4,888 in the state’s 11 prisons, 378 in work release facilities, and 297 in the state’s 10 juvenile centers.

“We continue to assess our daily population within each facility, and we believe that we are managing our available space to the best of our ability,” Kelly said.

Kelly said four counties are at least 90 days delinquent in their regional jail bills: Webster, Clay, Lincoln and Mingo counties. However, regional jails are financially benefiting from processing detainees for the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in state correctional facilities.

DCR facilities participating in the ICE detention program include the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville and the Eastern Regional Jail in Martinsburg. The federal government pays the state $90 per inmate per day, with ICE paying nearly $340,000 to DCR between June and July. Those funds are going into operational costs for regional jails.

Kelly also answered questions regarding inmates in need of long-term care. West Virginia is selling its four state-owned long-term care facilities to New York-based Marx Development Group for $140 million, including $60 million in cash and $80 million that would, among other things, fund the acquisition and construction of a minimum of three new facilities.

One of the four-state-owned facilities being sold is Jackie Withrow Hospital in Raleigh County, which serves older DCR inmates and those in need of assisted living. Kelly said DCR is not directly involved with sale negotiations, but he is in direct communication with the state Department of Health Facilities.

Kelly said there are no plans to move inmates from Jackie Withrow in the short term. He hopes DCR can work out a long-term agreement with MDG and MDG subsidiary Majestic Care, a long-term care company that would manage day-to-day operations of the in-state assisted living facilities.

“It is our hope that we will be able to have an agreement with the buyer once a buyer is settled in…I would say that would be the perfect plan,” Kelly said. “We would be prepared to do whatever we need to do to make sure that we could get our people where they need to be and these inmates where they need to be should something else happen. We don’t see that on the horizon, but we have to have that in the back of our mind.”