West Virginia doesn't have ties to private for-profit prisons and that's not likely to change, a spokesman for the state's Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety said.
"The comprehensive, evidence-based reforms of Justice Reinvestment have helped state after state avoid the need for additional prisons, whether government-run or privately operated," spokesman Lawrence Messina wrote in an email Saturday.
As the Obama administration announced last week it would begin to phase out the use of privately run facilities for federal inmates, prisoners rights groups called on state correctional officials to follow suit.
"West Virginia has already seen a decline in the growth of its incarceration rate greater than what was estimated when Justice Reinvestment was enacted in 2013. As West Virginia's reforms continue to unfold and take hold, this promising trend should only improve," Messina said.
More safety and security issues arise in private prisons, according to a report by an independent inspector general for the U.S. Department of Justice, which led to last week's announcement to move away from private prisons.
The private, for-profit system, which has often been used as a way to relieve issues of overcrowding, doesn't provide inmates with adequate rehabilitative services, which are needed in order to curb the recidivism rate, the report found, among other deficiencies.
"Scientifically validated tools for assessing risks and needs, community-based substance abuse treatment services, housing and employment assistance, graduated sanctions for probation and parole violations and the statewide expansion of Drug Courts are just some of the provisions of Justice Reinvestment that aim to reduce recidivism and crime," Messina said about the state's efforts.
A proposal to house up to 400 inmates in a private prison in Kentucky was found unnecessary last year, thanks to a faster-than-expected decline in prison population prompted by community corrections and accelerated parole options enacted in the Justice Reinvestment Act.
Corrections officials announced in 2015 that they would not be proceeding with plans to move inmates to the prison, located near Hazard, Kentucky, and operated by Corrections Corporation of America.
In 2014, in an effort to relieve prison overcrowding, and to move state Division of Corrections inmates out of state regional jails, the division put out a request for bids for any public or private prisons that could house up to 400 West Virginia inmates.
The American Civil Liberties Union and about 30 other faith, civil rights and community justice reform organizations sent a letter to the governor opposing housing inmates in out-of-state private prisons.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.