The head of West Virginia’s state corrections system, long plagued by overcrowding and inmate deaths, has been tapped to lead the agency that manages federal prisons beset by similar issues.
President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening he has picked West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Commissioner William “Billy” Marshall III to become the next director of the federal Bureau of Prisons.
The Bureau of Prisons is responsible for the care and custody of more than 150,000 inmates, with over 35,000 employees.
Marshall, as DCR commissioner, was among current and former state official defendants who reached a $4 million-plus settlement agreement in November 2023 in a case alleging inhumane conditions at Southern Regional Jail and Correctional Facility in Raleigh County.
Trump made his announcement on social media platform Truth Social, calling Marshall a strong law and order advocate who “understands the struggles of our prisons better than anyone.”
“Congratulations Billy, you will inspire us all!” Trump’s account posted.
Marshall was appointed DCR commissioner in January 2023 by then-Gov. Jim Justice after Marshall had been the division’s assistant commissioner. Marshall retired in 2017 after 25 years with the West Virginia State Police.
Justice, now one of West Virginia’s two Republican senators, hailed Trump’s choice of Marshall, an alumnus of Wahama High School in Mason County and Marshall University, in an X post late Thursday.
“I have full confidence in him & know he will do a great job,” Justice said, calling it “an absolutely terrific pick.”
Fellow Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also applauded the move, saying in an X post late Thursday Trump “picked the perfect candidate.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey echoed West Virginia’s senators Thursday night, saying on X it was “outstanding to have a strong West Virginian in the Trump Administration who will champion the President’s law and order agenda!”
The date of Marshall’s departure as commissioner is yet to be determined, Morrisey’s deputy press secretary, Drew Galang, said Friday. Morrisey will name an interim commissioner until a permanent appointment can be made, Galang said.
The DCR and Marshall did not respond to a request for comment.
Long-term inmate death rise persisted with Marshall at helm
The DCR has faced criticism from inmate advocates deploring living conditions and treatment of the incarcerated throughout West Virginia’s corrections system before and during Marshall’s tenure as commissioner — particularly in the state’s regional jails.
The DCR recorded 16 inmate deaths in regional jails in 2023 and 15 in 2024, according to DCR data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. Of those 31 inmates, 22 were awaiting trial.
The agency recorded 100 inmate deaths at regional jails across the five years before Marshall took over as commissioner, from 2018 through 2022, for an average of 20 per year.
Despite the decline in regional jail inmate deaths during Marshall’s time as commissioner from immediately preceding years, annual death counts under Marshall stayed higher than a previous five-year average of 11.2 deaths per year from 2015 through 2019.
Deaths at state regional jails never exceeded 14 in any of those years. They were in single digits annually from 2009 — the first year state officials said fatality and related demographic records existed — through 2014.
The median age of those deceased in 2024 was 52.5, with five attributed to natural cases, four to overdoses, one to suicide and four pending as of February 2025.
There were 45 inmate deaths recorded by the DCR across the state corrections system in 2024.
Legal trouble from state corrections oversight
In January, the federal government secured guilty verdicts for what it said were the final former West Virginia correctional officer convicted in connection with a fatal 2022 assault of an inmate and ensuing cover-up.
A jury in Charleston in January delivered guilty verdicts for defendant Chad Lester for his role as a correctional officer in connection with the March 1, 2022, death of Quantez Burks, 37, of Beckley, who was an inmate at Southern Regional Jail.
In November 2023, a grand jury charged Lester, 35, of Odd, Raleigh County, and five other defendants who served as Southern Regional correctional officers with causing Burks’ death by conspiring to injure him and then providing false information to investigators.
The DCR had listed Burks as one of 18 inmates to die of heart disease in one of the state’s 10 regional jails since the start of 2020, according to agency data obtained by HD Media through a Freedom of Information Act request.
But at a January news conference in Charleston, then-U.S. Attorney Will Thompson said Burks’ death followed “a very savage beating.”
The state also agreed last year to pay $100,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging state corrections employees contributed to the September 2022 death of Southern Regional Jail inmate Alvin Shrewsbury.
Shrewsbury, 45, died following incarceration at Southern Regional Jail marked by brutal acts of violence from other inmates, and correctional officer and health care staff indifference to his health and safety, according to the lawsuit filed by Shrewsbury’s daughter Miranda Smith.
$4M settlement deal followed reported inhumane conditions
Plaintiffs with which Marshall and other defendants who have been state corrections officials agreed to settle for $4 million-plus in 2023 alleged pervasive overcrowding, faulty plumbing resulting in a lack of running water and limited or no access to drinking water, black mold in inmate cells and showers, and rodent and insect infestations at the Southern Regional Jail and Correctional Facility.
The agreement was filed eight days after a judge found that the defendants intentionally destroyed evidence in the case that had been requested by the plaintiffs.
Justice’s administration announced in November 2023 that DCR executive officer Brad Douglas and Phil Sword, general counsel for the DCR’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, were terminated following the judge’s order.
Justice’s chief of staff at the time, Brian Abraham, denied the judge’s conclusion that state officials destroyed paper evidence and asserted that officials already provided information that Douglas failed to confirm had been preserved in hearing testimony.
The lawsuit cited a 2020 DCR annual report that indicated an average 12-month daily population of 640 in the Southern Regional facility with a designed capacity of 468. The jail’s average daily population for Fiscal Year 2021 was even greater at 717.
As of February 2025, there were 4,570 inmates across 10 regional jails — 7.2% above capacity, according to DCR data. Across 13 prisons, there were 4,992 inmates — 5.9% under capacity.
‘Significant shortcomings’ in BOP responses to deaths found
The Bureau of Prisons Marshall has been tapped to take over has a long history of troubling issues surrounding inmate deaths.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General released a report finding the bureau’s response to medical emergencies was often insufficient due to a lack of clear communication, urgency or proper equipment. The office found “significant shortcomings” in BOP staff emergency responses to almost half of inmate deaths it reviewed.
Those shortcomings included a lack of urgency in responding, failure to bring or use appropriate emergency equipment, and issues with naloxone administration, the OIG found.
The OIG reviewed 344 inmate deaths at BOP institutions from fiscal years 2014 through 2021.
The report found staffing shortages, an outdated security camera system, staff failure to follow BOP policies and an ineffective, untimely staff disciplinary process were factors in many inmate deaths reviewed.
“Although the BOP has taken some steps to begin addressing these issues, the BOP must employ a comprehensive approach to address these chronic challenges and continue to prioritize corrective actions in these areas if it is to maintain a safe and secure environment for both staff and the inmates in its custody,” the report concluded.
The OIG undertook the evaluation after high-profile inmate deaths at BOP institutions, including the homicide of former Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger in 2018 at the U.S. Penitentiary in Hazleton, Preston County.
A 2023 OIG report found overcrowding persisted at medium- and high-security BOP institutions despite an overall declining federal inmate population and that the BOP lacked a well-defined infrastructure strategy.
