From October 2017-Present. I have been housed at Central Regional Jail in Sutton, Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville and Potomac Highlands Regional Jail Near Martinsburg.

    During this time I was housed in what WVDOCR terms "protective custody" and special management" due to my having previously been employed by the U.S. Justice Dept. and due medical observation. 

    In these units residents are locked in their cells 24 hours per day and permitted showers typically every 3 days. Those time outside of the cell are 30 minutes or less. Although recreation of 1 hour per day is mandated, no such opportunities were afforded until a disturbance was raised by residents who objected.

    At CRJ, I was offered outside recreation only twice in a 6 month span, both occasions being between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. At Potomac Highlands residents finally became restless after long periods of lockdown and would flood sections in order to obtain 1 hour of recreation; however this resulted in worse environmental conditions.

    Food in those same lockdowns was placed on the floor in front of cell doors, then handed to resident one by one from the floor through food slots. Those same food slots were used to insert toilet bowl brushes and dirty mops on the rare occasions they were provided at all.

    What's more, some staff members used the designation of suicide watch as punishment or in retaliation toward complaining residents; subsequently, taking all their property and clothing, including bedding, leaving them practically naked, locked in these same sections. Suicide procedures are only permissible under circumstances of true belief that a person is in danger of self harm or a threat to the safety of others.

    One resident suffering mental illness was stripped completely naked and left standing in full open view of the entire section for nearly 30 minutes.

    Attitudes and behaviors of several staff members at these locations are alarming; telling residents not to come to jail if they don't like the treatment and conditions. Worse still, attempts to report this behavior resulted in reprisal and retaliation, verbal abuse and even the offering of bribes to other residents to assault those who complained; all this compounded by the fact that absolutely no policy and procedure was in place to effectively report such behavior Furthermore, those staff willing to assist were not knowledgeable of process or reporting tools.

    The cause of this Manifesto, by and in Defense of the People of West Virginia and Civil Action based thereupon is not to place squarely the blame for this crisis upon any single or group of individuals for discipline, nor to punish tax payers: quite the opposite, in fact.

    This crisis is begat decades of stigma, disregarded and negligence, due to lack of education, training, written policy and compensation to include fair wages and benefits to uphold honorable and professional conduct accordingly.

    Come we now via Steward and Principal to argue honestly and fairly. We pray that our leaders answer this call and that all Justice of our Honorable Courts afford us careful deliberation the "Parsimony Provision, "that the value and potential of our lives not be hastily disposed.