November
29, 2017
W.Va.
closes aging Huntington Work-Release Center
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Division of
Corrections is closing the 34-year-old Huntington Work-Release Center on
Thursday, having already transferred its staff and inmates to other facilities.
The 5th
Avenue center in downtown Huntington provided low-risk offenders with the
opportunity to hold down jobs in the community as they prepared to re-enter
society. The facility housed 68 men and women.
Corrections
officials decided to close the building it occupied since 1983 after an
inspection identified several structural and fire code issues.
“Given the
findings of the State Fire Marshal’s Office, investing the amount of money
needed to bring the building up to standard wasn’t in the best interest of the
state or its taxpayers,” said Deputy Corrections Commissioner Paul Simmons.
The
facility had 18 staff when the inmates were moved in the late summer. Those
wishing to stay with Corrections or other Military Affairs and Public Safety
agencies have been reassigned elsewhere.
Acting
Corrections Commissioner Mike Coleman told staff earlier this week that their
hard work helped “make West Virginia a better and safer place” during the
center’s three decades of operation.
“Facility
closures are always bittersweet life moments,” Coleman told staff. “Having gone
through the shutdown of the West Virginia Penitentiary in 1995, I just wanted
to take this opportunity to thank you and your staff for the work you have done
over the years, and the manner in which you have performed the duty that fell
to you in closing this facility. Well done.”
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