GREENSVILLE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The list of concerns at Greensville Correctional Center has grown to include staggering overtime hours after cellblock fires, the death of an employee and two inmate deaths, extended lockdowns, multiple seizures of drugs and weapons, and the escape of an inmate who was later captured.
Over the past few months, dozens of concerned employees and families have reached out to 8News, pointing the finger at a critical staffing shortage within the prison.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, 8News obtained data revealing that over the course of six months, employees at the facility worked a combined 100,283 overtime hours.
The data, which tracked those hours from May through November, was for hourly and salaried employees.
“These staff working all these hours, they don’t have the drive to even be assertive to find things or notice things,” said one source familiar with the prison.
“Sometimes you have to rely more on the inmates for your safety because you really can’t rely on your officers to get there,” said another source.
This critical staffing shortage is just one issue the prison is facing right now. The Virginia Department of Corrections is currently investigating its sixth inmate death in three months. A female employee was also found dead in her car. Staff shared that the woman’s body had been in a car in the parking lot for hours before it was discovered.
“No parking lot checks were done, which could have led to her discovery on the same day of the occurrence,” said a concerned staff member.
The deaths forced the jail into a weeks-long lockdown, during which authorities seized a host of drugs and contraband, including:
- Heroin
- Cocaine
- Buprenorphine strips
- THC and THC Wax
- Possible crack cocaine
- Possible spice (synthetic marijuana)
- Steroid tablets
- A white, powdery substance
- A white, crystalline substance
- A brown, powdery substance
- A brown, liquid substance
- A grey, powdery substance
- A black, tar-like substance
- Many more unknown substances
Security staff employees also recovered 21 homemade weapons, 10 cell phones and several pieces of contraband homemade clothing.
The Virginia Department of Corrections released a statement in response to the seizure, saying the department is “developing a specific operational plan for addressing the flow of drugs and contraband into Greensville Correctional Center.” The statement also revealed new leadership in the prison.
Kevin McCoy, a former Warden at Sussex I State Prison, has been named the new Lead Warden at Greensville. David Newcomer, formerly the Warden at Augusta Correctional Center, has been named Warden at Greensville. Frank Roach, formerly the Assistant Warden at Dillwyn Correctional Center, has been named Assistant Warden at Greensville.
Families and employees are hopeful that positive change is forthcoming.
“I want someone to pay attention and do something,” said the mother of one inmate. “Treat them like human beings, they are inmates but they are human.”
