BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — A United States District Court Judge will decide if a lawsuit filed against Southern Regional Jail will receive class certification.

Beckley attorney Stephen P. New, one of the attorneys who filed the 2022 lawsuit against SRJ, West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials, county commissions, and contracted jail health care providers, Wexford Health and Prime Care Medical of West Virginia, on behalf of former SRJ inmates and family members, submitted 12 new exhibits to the federal magistrate Omar Aboulhosn in United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia on Thursday, October 19, 2023.

Judge Aboulhosn is expected to issue a ruling at a future date.

Inmates say officials and jail staff violated their Constitutional rights by forcing them into overcrowded cells, deferring millions of dollars of maintenance and withholding adequate medical treatment.

The suit alleges inmates suffered attacks because locks were broken on cells.

The suit alleges state officials knew for years Southern Regional needed millions in maintenance but did not order it.

New had previously asked Judge Aboulhosn to allow plaintiffs’ attorneys to depose Governor Jim Justice, a motion Justice’s lawyers have asked the judge to deny.