HUTTONSVILLE – One local legislator met with officials at the Huttonsville Correctional Center Thursday in an effort to better understand the facility in hopes of making improvements for employees in the future.

Sen. Greg Boso, R-Nicholas, visited the prison and spoke with individuals on the inner workings of the facility in Huttonsville in an effort to get a full grasp of the everyday work of employees.

“I serve as a member of the joint committee on regional jails and corrections, and I think that it’s one thing to hear the reports but it’s another to go and actually meet with the people in the facilities to hear from both the warden and the people who are taking care of those who are incarcerated,” Boso said.

Boso explained a bulk of the joint committee’s responsibility is to take in annual reports that address staffing issues and funding of facilities around the state.

“There is, occasionally, some legislation that is drafted and comes out of that joint committee that then goes into the respective house of the Legislature for initiation and process,” Boso said.

The facility’s many employees work together to fulfill the center’s mission statement. According to the West Virginia Division of Corrections, the Huttonsville Correctional Center’s policy is to maintain a mechanism that ensures its mission of providing a safe, secure and humane correctional institution for the public, staff and offenders; and is fulfilled in a professional and efficient manner.

To do this in the most effective way possible, it is important for the facility’s staff to be as full as possible.

Warden Marvin Plumley said, “We do have a great staff here and they get the job done everyday.”

Plumley expressed that all challenges are handled well by staff.

“For a facility that is operating with two-thirds of the staff that it really needs to accomplish its function and maintain safety, I’m very impressed with the operation of the facility, cleanliness of the facility, cleanliness of the prisoners, the concern of staff to maintain control and be accountable for each of the prisoners,” Boso said.

Boso also expressed his interest in getting to know more about the facility and the duties of employees within.

“I’ve said it once, I will say it again, our public servants are our greatest asset that West Virginia has within the government, within the body of West Virginia, for the most part,” Boso said.

Warden Plumley, Deputy Warden John T. Murphy, and other individuals discussed various programs that are offered within the facility as well as outside of the main facility including vocational, academic programs, and the work camp.

Both vocational and academic programs are offered to inmates by the state Department Of Education; vocational classes are also offered in auto mechanics and auto body. These classes give inmates the opportunity to engage in rehabilitation efforts while they are incarcerated to help them receive the help that they need. In addition, prison industries also operate a furniture plant which refinishes and builds new furniture for various state agencies. Employees in the furniture plant work Monday through Friday. The plant operates both as a factory and a school for inmates.

In addition, outside the main facility is the Huttonsville Work Camp, which opened in 2012. This program was created as an attempt to reduce overcrowding in the state’s correctional system and to offer inmates with a transition from higher security within the main facility to a minimum security environment which would help them to prepare to be released into society again.

“We all recognize that that process is sometimes challenging, and I appreciate your all’s work and what you do here,” Boso said.

The Huttonsville Work Camp houses nonviolent inmates who are considered to be a low risk. Inmates who are housed in the work camp are able to work various jobs in the community.

Inmates may work with the Division of Highways, West Virginia Farm Commission or grounds maintenance. Certain crews help out the local towns and assist with special events such as the Mountain State Forest Festival.

Many of the educational opportunities offered within the main facility at the Correctional Center are also made available to inmates in the work camp.

In addition, inmates from the work camp help on farms around the facility to assist the Department of Agriculture.

“We started a program a couple of years ago called Harvest Now, and basically it was prisons raising food to give to food pantries and food banks,” Plumley said.

Belinda Toms, director of Tyrand Cooperative Ministries in Mill Creek, said, “There are inmates in the work building that have done gardens and supplied Tyrand with food in the summer.”

“We did the calculations and we donated over 20,000 pounds of fresh produce so far this year,” Plumley said.

The senator hopes to work to provide fair compensation to employees for their everyday work.

“We’ve got to make a dedicated commitment to finding ways to raise the base salary level of many of those serving at the lower tiers within the organization,” Boso said.

The Huttonsville Correctional Center has been in operation since 1939, and is currently the oldest and largest correctional facility in the state.