A new West Virginia law requires magistrates and judges to set a hearing within five days for people who've been arrested for not showing up to a court hearing, not paying fines on time, or not following civil-court rulings.

The reform comes at a time when jails across the Mountain State are overflowing. According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, one in eight people goes to jail because of a bench warrant.

Sara Whitaker, a criminal legal policy analyst with the Center, said the state's track record for keeping jails safe amid overcrowding is dismal.

"Over the last decade, West Virginia jails were the deadliest in the country," said Whitaker. "Then last year, in 2022, 12 people died in one regional jail alone."

New data show the number of West Virginians brought to jail on a bench-warrant arrest increased from nearly 2,000 people in 2012 to nearly 5,000 a decade later.

Whitaker pointed out that bench warrants, also known as capias arrests, are contributing to the stressful conditions that have made it tough to attract and retain jail workers.

Last summer, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared a statewide staffing emergency - and brought 300 National Guard personnel to work in jails.

"These capiases," said Whitaker, "are contributing to the overcrowding in regional jails that make it so difficult to attract people who want to work inside of these facilities."

There are currently more than 1,000 vacancies within the state's Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation system.




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New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has called lawmakers back to the state Capitol this month for a legislative session about public safety.

New Mexico has one of the highest rates of firearm deaths in the country and according to a survey by the website SafeWise.com, state respondents expressed a high level of concern and experience with crime.

Rebecca Edwards, lead safety and tech reporter for SafeWise.com, said more than a third of New Mexicans say they have increased their security or safety measures in the past 12 months.

"People that feel downtrodden, that feel that they don't have opportunities and that can't make ends meet, give up hope, are more desperate to do things to protect themselves," Edwards asserted. "Across the country, people at the bottom don't have a way to get out."

A spokesperson for the governor has said she also will ask lawmakers to raise the penalties for felons caught with firearms. The special session starting July 18 will be the fifth since Lujan Grisham took office six years ago.

Edwards pointed out talk of public safety usually focuses on protection from crime but she feels traditional approaches often do not work over the long haul.

"It feels good to say we're just going to give the police a whole bunch more money, to hire a whole bunch of more officers, but what's the ultimate goal?" Edwards asked. "Are you going to have officers that are trained in more specialized areas? Or what's the emphasis on de-escalation going to be? Nonlethal responses?"

Earlier this year, the Albuquerque Police Department released preliminary 2023 statistics showing an increase in crimes against property and society.

Alan Webber, mayor of Santa Fe, said while Santa Fe's crime rates are lower, all public officials are working to find ways to maintain safety in their communities.

"Sometimes it has to do with the issue of gun and gun violence," Webber noted. "I think we also should focus on ways we can help people who are in public spaces and need to be given mental health services."


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Kentucky is one of a handful of states recently approved to provide health insurance coverage to soon-to-be released incarcerated individuals.

The new rules allow Kentucky to provide Medicaid and CHIP coverage up to 90 days before a person's reentry into society.

John Bowman, senior campaign organizer for the nonprofit Dream.org, said the move will help people reentering society avoid gaps in coverage and reduce barriers to treatment for chronic diseases and substance use disorders.

"Getting these resources in place before they leave incarceration is it's going to be a game changer," Bowman asserted. "Hopefully, we can get to the point where we get it in our county jails as well, instead of just our prisons. Right now, our county jails are excluded."

The new rules also apply to youths in juvenile detention centers who are eligible for the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. According to federal data, an estimated 80% of returning community members have chronic medical, psychiatric or substance use disorders.

Research has shown overcrowding, poor conditions and lack of access to care can increase infectious diseases in jails, including COVID. During the pandemic, incarcerated people were three times more likely to die from coronavirus than the general population. Bowman noted people with a chronic condition often become sicker in prison or develop medical conditions they did not previously have.

"There is a real lack of health care for incarcerated individuals," Bowman observed. "We just stick them in a cage and then forget about them. The lack of health care in there is, honestly, very demeaning and very sad."

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, all federal prisons and at least 40 states charge incarcerated people an average copay of around $2 when seeking medical care.

Bowman added he hopes Kentucky can expand on access to evidence-based substance use treatment and recovery services, including peer support specialists through Medicaid for people working to piece their lives back together after incarceration.


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Groups advocating for people detained in immigration facilities are calling for the reinstatement of a program which allowed 500 free minutes of phone calls per month.

In recent weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement cut off the free domestic and international calls, telling advocates pandemic-era funding has run out.

Rosa Santana, interim co-executive director of the Envision Freedom Fund, said families of the detainees often struggle to afford the calls, which can cost up to $3 for 15 minutes.

"Usually the person who is in detention is the breadwinner and now families have to be able to figure out how they could bring food and everything that the breadwinner used to bring, pay rent," Santana pointed out. "And on top of that now, it's having to pay for phone calls."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment. People in at least 16 ICE detention centers across the country have reported losing access to the free calls, including three sites in California: Golden State Annex, Mesa Verde Processing Center and Otay Mesa Detention Center.

Karim Golding, organizer for the nonprofit Freedom to Thrive, said the phone calls are a lifeline for people in detention; a connection to family that keeps their spirits up. In addition, human rights groups worry it could make it harder to monitor conditions on the inside.

"Absent the phones, how would we know that rights are being violated?" Golding asked. "How would we know if nobody has the ability to communicate?"

People in detention do still have access to work programs where they can earn about $1 for eight hours of work to spend on calls or items at the commissary.