Dec. 30, 2007 — Elwood S. York has resigned from his post as the territory's prisons director, a job he first assumed 10 years ago and took over again in June.
York's resignation from his second stint as director took effect Dec. 12, giving him just about five months on the job, according to a recent news release from Government House. In the meantime, district wardens on St. Thomas and St. Croix have run the prisons' day-to-day operations.
"I was told that Mr. York wanted to pursue some other opportunities outside the territory," Gov. John deJongh Jr. said, according to the release. "At this point, we will find another director to carry out the reform work needed in the territory's prison systems."
DeJongh added that he does not think York's resignation will stymie government efforts to provide care for the territory's population of mentally ill inmates or address the conditions of a consent decree in place for the Golden Grove Correctional Facility on St. Croix — both the results of lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the federal Department of Justice.
The ACLU filed its class-action lawsuit in 1994, alleging widespread rights' abuses in prisons on St. Thomas. The charges ranged from poor sanitary conditions to the abuse of mentally ill inmates.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Brotman subsequently ruled in favor of the ACLU, and has found the territory in contempt of court several times for failure to improve the conditions. Though Brotman noted in March that "considerable improvements" have been made to prison and detention facilities on St. Thomas, the ACLU has since asked the court to fine the territory's top government officials for not complying with orders to transfer the inmates with mental illnesses to a psychiatric hospital.
The territory has also been found in contempt of court for failing to meet the mandates of a decades-old agreement with the federal government to improve conditions at Golden Grove.
When contacted Sunday, Attorney General Vincent Frazer said the V.I. Justice Department is still working to put "mechanisms" in place that would help deal with both issues.
"While we consider this a loss, in that we wanted Mr. York to stay here and take us to where we needed to be, the Bureau of Corrections still needs to move forward, and we're going to be doing just that," he said. "We are in the process of looking for a replacement. We've interviewed one candidate so far, and are looking at others. But we're not going to hire just anyone — they need to be able to meet our needs."
Frazer offered assurances about prison operations.
"In the meantime, the wardens, as usual, will continue to run things," he said. "I will continue my oversight responsibilities and we also have some other people in place to help manage what needs to be done."
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