CHARLESTON — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Friday reiterated his plan to reduce the number of West Virginia National Guard troops still filling staffing needs at state prisons.

Since October 2023, there have been more than 270 new hires at the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, according to information provided by the agency.

Justice touched on the topic during his State of the State address this week, and was asked for more details during his virtual briefing Friday with state reporters.

“We are aggressively recruiting folks to be able to put in positions who are qualified in every way,” Justice said. “We are hiring and training correctional officers for promotion.The net of the whole thing is you can’t remove the National Guard until you have the correctional officers.”

He indicated raising the pay for correctional officers has helped in the recruitment of new employees.

“My hope is that, by late summer, we will have the National Guard out of our facilities. Not that we just want the National Guard out of facilities … but we need correctional officers.”

The state recently obtained 40 new elk from LBL (Land Between the Lakes) elk and bison prairie in Kentucky, bringing the total number of elk added in West Virginia to 110.