On February 6, 1987, a juvenile detained at the Wood County Correctional Center (WCCC) in West Virginia petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia for a writ of mandamus, alleging that the juvenile detention section of the Wood County Correctional Center violated minimum statutory and constitutional standards. By March 3, 1987, two other juveniles were added to the suit as intervenors. The plaintiffs asked the court to order their immediate release from the WCCC. Although one of the plaintiffs had served the entirety of his sentence, the court refused to dismiss him from the lawsuit for mootness because the issues arising from his detention were capable of repetition.

On June 4, 1987, the Supreme Court of Appeals (Chief Justice Warren R. McGraw) held that eighteen year-old probation violators were "children" for purposes of sentencing under West Virginia law. State ex rel. M.L.N. v. Greiner, 360 S.E.2d 554 (W.Va. 1987). The court further held that incarceration of juveniles in a county jail was permissible only if the children could neither see nor hear adult prisoners. The court ordered the sentencing judges to modify the plaintiffs' sentences to place them either in a county facility where they are shielded from adult inmates or in a state facility for juveniles.

We have neither the original petitions for mandamus nor copies of the motions to intervene. In addition, we have no information on any subsequent proceedings.

Kristen Sagar - 11/27/2007


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