Inmate dies after he was found unresponsive at highly scrutinized West Virginia jail

BEAVER, WV. — A West Virginia jail inmate scrutinized in lawsuits citing inmate deaths and alleging poor living conditions was pronounced dead Friday morning, authorities said.

Correctional officers at the Southern Regional Jail found the 24-year-old man unresponsive in his cell and attempted to take life-saving measures, according to a statement from the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was then taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, WCHS reported.

Authorities did not immediately provide further details or reveal the identity of the deceased inmate. The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Criminal Investigation Division and West Virginia State Police have opened an investigation into the death.

Several former Southern Regional Jail corrections officers were indicted last month by a federal grand jury in connection with the 2022 death of an incarcerated man who was beaten while handcuffed and restrained in an interrogation room and then in a cell. from jail. They were also accused of attempting to cover up his actions, according to the US Department of Justice.

The indictments came weeks after two West Virginia corrections officers pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy stemming from the fatal beating of the same inmate, 37-year-old Quantez Burks. Burks was a pretrial detainee who died less than a day after being booked into the Southern Regional Jail.

The state of West Virginia also agreed this year to pay $4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by inmates who described prison conditions as inhumane. The lawsuit filed last year on behalf of current and former inmates described a lack of access to food and water at the facility, as well as overcrowding and fights that were allowed to continue until someone was injured.