A court appointed monitor’s report on conditions at Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility released this week bluntly concluded conditions in the prison were little improved from a year ago, but prison officials say the report is out of date and the monitor agrees progress has been made.
The report from court appointed special monitor Kenneth Ray is dated Dec. 3, 2013, and outlines a long series of security, safety, hygiene and health issues affecting the prison, saying most are unchanged from the last inspection many months earlier. [BOC Consent Decree Monitor Report March 17, 2014]
Ray wrote the prison "remains a dangerous and violent environment and is inadequately staffed, equipped, funded, maintained, and operated to provide and consistently sustain environmental and operational conditions of inmate care and confinement that meet constitutional requirements." The report then details those problems, concludes little has been done, but declares officials "voiced a serious commitment to comply."
Bureau of Corrections Director Julius Wilson said Thursday the report is three months old and that there has been progress at the prison since the December site visit catalogued in the report.
“While the monitor only released his report on the December 2013 visit on Monday, the monitor has acknowledged significant progress in our effort to improve conditions at the Golden Grove Correctional Facility,” Wilson said in a statement. The most recent site visit was held between March 4 and 7, and Wilson said the monitor found improvements including an entry gate lock made more operable; searches upon entry to the prison more appropriate; gates into the yard locked; persons having been held accountable for not locking gates; and logbooks now being used with proper entries being made. Cells and housing units are a bit cleaner; inmates are now being made responsible for maintaining their own cells; showers and kitchen facilities have been cleaned with new fixtures added; and kitchen tools are locked and secured.
At the end of that visit, the monitor met with BOC officials and noted the improvements, while also saying continued improvement is needed, according to Wilson. That report will be filed with the court by April 21 and should reflect the advances, Wilson said.
The territory and the U.S. Department of Justice “have reached a settlement agreement, which was entered as an order of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, that gives the territory the initial discretion to determine how best to put Golden Grove on the right path to improving conditions at the facility in light of the limitations faced," Wilson said.
