Quantez Burks News Today

Sentencing could be delayed in the case of two jail guards pleading guilty in the death of pretrial defendant Quantez Burks in West Virginia’s Southern Regional Jail.

New allegations have been raised in a lawsuit focused on the death of an inmate who was beaten by guards while restrained and died while in custody.

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Four of eight Southern Regional Jail guards charged in the beating death of 37-year-old Quantez Burks at the jail on March 1, 2022, are still employees of the jail, according to records released Friday, February 24, 2024, by West Virginia State Auditor’s Office under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Burks […]

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Attorneys representing the family of Quantez Burks, who died while incarcerated for a pre-trial offense at Southern Regional Jail in March of 2022, allege that the company contracted to provide medical care to inmates failed to help Burks. Later, while guards were allegedly beating him, one of the nurses is now […]

The West Virginia House of Delegates Jails and Prisons Committee has approved a bill to create an ombudsman position to set up a procedure to receive complaints about inmates who have died and are subject to a reported abuse allegation. House Bill 5358 would create an ombudsman within the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.

A Virginia bank has moved to auction off the Greenbrier Sporting Club owned by the Justice family, but Gov. Jim Justice says it won’t happen. 

Deaths at state-run jails in West Virginia declined in 2023 from the previous year but remained significantly higher than totals throughout the 2010s.

Bringing back the death penalty is one of the goals of the West Virginia Legislature this session. Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, and no less than Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley

Three days before Christmas, a 24-year-old man died at the Southern Regional Jail in Raleigh County. He was one of at least 27 people who died at that one facility

Inmate deaths at regional jails in West Virginia decreased in 2023 from the previous year, according to state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation data. But the 2023 death count remained far above past annual death totals reported by the state, a trend poised to renew concerns about jail conditions and inmate treatment.