On January 8, 2016, the day before the two year anniversary of West Virginia’s 2014 water crisis, the ACLU of West Virginia (“ACLUWV”) issued a notice to the Regional Jail & Correctional Facility Authority, Division of Corrections and Attorney General that it intends to sue the state for conditions at South Central Regional Jail during the water crisis. Also listed on the notice was Anthony J. Majestro, of Charleston law firm Powell & Majestro PLLC.
The notice states that inmates at South Central were given inadequate amounts of drinking and bathing water during the water crisis, which lasted from January 9 to 14, 2014. The notice further states that the state’s actions “denied basic human needs, inflicted unnecessary and wanton pain and suffering, and put complainants at substantial risk of physical injury, illness, and premature death, in violation of complainants’ rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article III, Section 5 of the West Virginia Constitution.”
“Clean and safe water for drinking and bathing is a basic human need, and people who were incarcerated did not have the ability to go to the store and purchase bottled water like everyone else,” said ACLU cooperating attorney Anthony Majestro. “The state has a constitutional obligation to care for people in its custody.”
The notice also alleges that inmates who requested water or medical attention were retaliated against, in violation of their First Amendment rights. The notice states that the ACLU will seek damages and injunctive relief to correct the flaws in agency policies that led to these constitutional violations.
Said ACLU staff attorney Jamie Lynn Crofts, “during the water crisis, inmates were given as little as two bottles of water to drink per day. That is not enough to meet their basic needs. It is unacceptable both that inmates were not adequately cared for and that those who complained were punished. People in state custody are among the most vulnerable members of society. It is my hope that this lawsuit will lead to proper planning and procedures for all state correctional facilities in the event of another water contamination.”
Tim Ward
Managing Partner
84 Agency
