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West Virginia Jail Sued Over Response to Water Crisis
By: Associated Press
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – A lawsuit claims some West Virginia inmates were so desperate for water they tried to drink from toilets during a water crisis.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the suit was filed on behalf of inmates at South Central Regional Jail between Jan. 9-14, 2014. That was at a time when area residents were told not to use water for anything but flushing toilets and fighting fires due to a chemical spill in a river.
The West Virginia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit in federal court in Charleston.
The suit contains many more allegations about how the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority handled the water crisis.
The state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety has defended allegations about how inmates were treated.