Prisoner Murdered by COs in West Virginia
On Friday the 12th of June, prisoner David Munday allegedly assaulted an employee at Mount Olive Correctional Complex (MOCC), which is West Virginia’s Super Max prison. The assault occurred in one of the pods out in general population. Mr. Munday was then assaulted (“restrained”) by numerous guards. Munday was handcuffed behind his back, placed in full restraints and he was then taken to medical for treatment. Once he got to medical he was placed into the restraint chair with a mask over his head. It is believed that approximately 15 minutes later staff member noticed he was no longer breathing. David Monday died under suspicious circumstances on Friday the 12th of June, 2015.
The prison has been locked down since the incident took place. Prisoners believe what happened to Mr. Munday is a culmination of the ongoing systematic problems within the WVDOC. Staff believe they are above the law, and that they are the law. They condition us to believe the same as well. If we complain or write grievances they respond with generic answers, outright lie or they will dodge the primary issue with a response that does not pertain to the grieved issue at hand. Then the commissioner in most cases will rubber stamp the Warden’s response to our grievances.
To add fuel to the fire, Warden Ballard released a video to the prison population stating that there’s an ongoing investigation into the incident and that the state police are handling and overseeing the process in Mr. Munday’s unexpected death. He stated several times in the video that he will not tolerate any inmate putting their hands on his employees and inmate Monday’s death is an example of what happens when you do. He then stated that he was not threatening us “he was just saying” and that this is an “example of what life could be like here at Mount Olive.” Although Warden Ballard stated that it was not a threat, it’s crystal clear when you watch the video that Warden Ballard threatened the entire inmate population at MOCC, by stating if you put your hands on his staff, then this is an example of what happens, clearly referring to inmate Monday’s death.
Prisoners here at MOCC received Warden Ballard’s threat/message loud and clear: if prisoners assault staff they will die, just as our fellow prisoner died, helpless in a restraint chair, an “example of what life could be like here at MOCC.” Moreover, the message is clear to all of us here, especially the ones who have survived the routine use of excessive force here at MOCC and the ruthless and sadistic actions of some of the staff employed here at the facility. No matter what Mr. Munday did or who he assaulted he did not deserve a death sentence.
What happened here is not just, and it certainly is not justifiable. Coincidentally, it appears that somehow the media received false information that Munday had meth in his cell. We believe that this false information is being used to justify Munday’s death.
This incident is just one of many here at MOCC. If someone would just take the time to thoroughly investigate the conditions of our confinement, the outrageous number of use of excessive force complaints filed against MOCC, the broken grievance system, and the corrupt, good old boy network here at MOCC, they would uncover a mountain of evidence that MOCC is operating with impunity, they are blatantly and routinely violating their own policies and violating the few Constitutional rights that we have left. We understand that we are prisoners, but the majority of us here at MOCC are good guys who have just made bad decisions, at the end of the day we are still people’s fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons. We understand our situation here at MOCC, this is a maximum security prison but that does not give staff here the right to mistreat us, and lock us up in isolation for years upon years, without due process. Something needs to be done and we hope and pray that someone hears our cries for help, and gets justice for David Munday who we believe was killed by MOCC staff.
