West Virginia's incarceration rate is 674 per 100,000 residents. That figure, documented by the Prison Policy Initiative, means West Virginia locks up a higher percentage of its people than any independent democratic country in the world. It is not a statistic that can be explained without naming the opioid crisis.
West Virginia has had the highest drug overdose death rate in the nation for years. The pharmaceutical companies that flooded the state with opioid pills left behind a generation of families fractured by addiction, death, and incarceration. The children of incarcerated West Virginians are, in many cases, also children of the opioid crisis. They may have watched a parent struggle with addiction before the arrest. They may be living with grandparents or other relatives rather than the outside parent. They may have lost one parent to overdose and now have the other in prison. The context of West Virginia incarceration is not separate from addiction. For many families, it is the same story.
I went into the federal system, not the West Virginia DCR. I went in when my kids were 9, 11, 12, 15, 18, and 20. What I know from 66 months is that the context of a family's incarceration shapes what both parents have to navigate. The parent inside a West Virginia facility may be serving time for an addiction-related offense. The child at home may be carrying the weight of addiction in addition to the weight of incarceration. The needs are the same as they are in every other state in this series, but they are layered on top of a crisis that West Virginia has been living through for a generation.
West Virginia's geography: coalfields, mountains, and the Ohio River
West Virginia is a mountain state. It has no large cities; Charleston, the capital and largest city, has about 47,000 people. The state's economy has been centered on coal, natural gas, and chemical manufacturing, industries in decline. The communities are often small, rural, and separated from each other by the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains.
Mount Olive Correctional Complex, the state's only maximum-security prison, is in Fayette County east of Charleston at 1 Mountainside Way, Mt. Olive WV 25185. Huttonsville Correctional Center, opened in 1939, is in Randolph County in the mountains of north-central West Virginia, on U.S. Route 250 near Huttonsville. The drive from Charleston to Huttonsville is about two hours through the mountains. Pruntytown Correctional Center is in Taylor County near Grafton, also in the mountain country of north-central West Virginia.
Lakin Correctional Center, the state's only prison for women, is in Mason County on the Ohio River at 11264 Ohio River Road, West Columbia WV 25287. Mason County is in the far west of the state along the Ohio River, about 80 miles west of Charleston. For families in the Eastern Panhandle, near Martinsburg and the Maryland and Virginia borders, Lakin is a four-hour drive.
The Eastern Panhandle is a distinct part of West Virginia, geographically and economically closer to Washington DC and Baltimore than to Charleston. Martinsburg Correctional Center serves the eastern panhandle population at 38 Grapevine Road, Martinsburg WV 25401. Families there are in a different West Virginia than families in the coalfields.
The opioid crisis and what it means for both parents
West Virginia has medications for opioid use disorder available in its prisons. That is worth naming. A parent who is serving time for an addiction-related offense and who has access to treatment in the facility is doing the most important work they can do for their children: they are working on the thing that caused the incarceration in the first place. A parent who leaves prison having addressed addiction is a different parent than one who leaves without addressing it.
The children watching this from home need to understand that recovery is possible and that the incarcerated parent is working toward it. The outside parent, who may be a grandparent or extended family member raising the children, carries the job of holding that possibility open for the children. Speaking carefully about the incarcerated parent in front of the children is especially important in a context where the circumstances of the arrest may have been traumatic and visible.
The 9-year-old who watched a parent struggle with addiction and then watched a parent get arrested needs to hear that none of it is their fault. The 12-year-old in a small West Virginia community where the story is not invisible needs someone to maintain the connection between them and the incarcerated parent. The GTL call from Mount Olive or Huttonsville is part of how that connection is maintained.
GTL and how to set up communication
Phone calls in West Virginia DCR facilities go through Global Tel Link (GTL) via ConnectNetwork. Set up an account at connectnetwork.com. The incarcerated individual calls outgoing to numbers on their approved list; they cannot receive incoming calls. Calls are monitored and recorded. For Pruntytown, visiting hours are Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
Money for commissary can be sent through JailATM. Mail goes directly to the facilities at the addresses below; check dcr.wv.gov for any changes to mail procedures at specific facilities. West Virginia prisons have tablets; check the facility directly for what tablet services are available and how to access them.
FCC rate caps effective April 6, 2026, limit calls to $0.11 per minute at prisons and large jails plus a facility fee.
The decision West Virginia's context does not make for either parent
My wife never said a word against me to our six children during 66 months. She had every reason. She had six kids in a situation I had created. She chose to let them love me without penalty. What I have with my adult children today is the direct result of that choice.
The parent inside a West Virginia facility carries the same obligation. Set up the GTL account so the child can be called consistently. Call on a schedule. Ask what happened at school. Ask by name about the thing the child mentioned last time. Show the child that you are paying attention from Mount Olive or Huttonsville or Lakin.
In a state where addiction has taken so much from so many families, the connection that holds during the sentence is evidence to the child that recovery and presence are possible together. Make the call. Send the letter. Use the tablet if it is available. Let the child see you working.
What the ages mean in West Virginia
My children were 9, 11, 12, 15, 18, and 20 when I went in.
The 9-year-old in a small West Virginia community whose parent is at Mount Olive or Lakin needs the same thing every 9-year-old in this series needs: to hear directly and often that none of what happened is their fault. Children under 10 build private, silent explanations for a parent's absence. In West Virginia, where the story of addiction and incarceration may be visible and known in the community, the child's private explanation is often layered on top of community knowledge that the family would prefer the child not carry alone. Set up GTL. Call on a consistent schedule. Say it on every call: this is not your fault. I love you. I am still your parent.
The 11 and 12-year-old in West Virginia is navigating middle school in small communities where a family's situation is often known. The incarcerated parent who calls consistently from GTL, who uses the tablet messaging if available, who makes the contact regular and genuine, is maintaining a presence that the community's knowledge cannot substitute for. The child needs to hear from the parent, not just about the parent.
The 15-year-old has formed a full picture. They know what happened and they know what it means. Do not lecture from Huttonsville. Call to listen. The teenager who believes the incarcerated parent is genuinely paying attention, and genuinely working on the things that led to incarceration, will stay in the relationship.
The 18 and 20-year-old is an adult making choices. Show up as someone worth choosing.
What the outside parent carries in West Virginia
The outside parent in West Virginia may not be a parent in the traditional sense. In many families affected by the opioid crisis, the children are being raised by grandparents or other extended family members. The person carrying the children through the sentence may be a grandmother in a small coalfield community, managing kids, limited income, and the logistics of incarceration without the other parent present.
That person needs acknowledgment from the incarcerated individual. One GTL call where the person inside names specifically what they see being carried on the outside and says thank you for it, in direct and genuine terms, is worth more than any instruction delivered from inside a West Virginia facility. My wife carried six children through 66 months. She deserved to hear that I saw it. I said so as often as the access allowed.
For whoever is carrying the children: speak carefully about the incarcerated parent in front of the children. West Virginia's communities are small and the children will hear things. What they hear at home will shape how they understand what they hear everywhere else. My wife never said anything against me. What I have now is what that made possible.
How communication works in West Virginia
PHONE: Global Tel Link (GTL) via ConnectNetwork. Set up at connectnetwork.com. Incarcerated individuals call outgoing to approved numbers; no incoming calls. FCC cap $0.11/min + facility fee effective April 6, 2026.
MONEY: JailATM recommended for commissary deposits.
MAIL: Send to facility address with inmate name and ID number. Key addresses: Mount Olive Correctional Complex: 1 Mountainside Way, Mt. Olive WV 25185. Huttonsville Correctional Center: P.O. Box 1, Huttonsville WV 26273. Lakin Correctional Center (women only): 11264 Ohio River Road, West Columbia WV 25287; (304) 674-2440. Martinsburg Correctional Center: 38 Grapevine Road, Martinsburg WV 25401. Northern Correctional Facility: 112 Northern Regional Correctional Drive, Moundsville WV 26041.
TABLETS: Available at West Virginia DCR facilities; services vary by facility; check dcr.wv.gov.
VISITATION: Prior approval required; valid photo ID required; visitors under 16 must be accompanied by legal guardian. Check dcr.wv.gov for facility-specific rules and hours. Pruntytown visiting hours: Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
WVDCR HQ: 1409 Greenbrier Street, Charleston WV 25311; (304) 558-2036; dcr.wv.gov.
Federal inmates in West Virginia, including those at FCI Beckley (near Beaver; Raleigh County), FCI Hazelton (Preston County), USP Hazelton (Preston County), or FPC Alderson (Monroe County; women), fall under BOP jurisdiction. BOP communication uses TRULINCS for email via CORRLINKS and TRUFONE for phone. FCC rate caps apply; First Step Act programming offers 300 free minutes per month.
Where this leaves you
West Virginia is a state that has been in a public health crisis for a generation. The opioid epidemic is not background context for West Virginia's incarceration numbers; it is the primary driver. The children at home are not just children of incarcerated parents. Many of them are children of addiction, children of grief, children of communities that have lost people to overdose and prison in patterns that have made family disruption ordinary.
The parent inside a West Virginia facility cannot fix what the opioid crisis has done to the state. What they can do is make the GTL call on a consistent schedule. They can participate in the substance use treatment that West Virginia makes available in its prisons. They can use the tablet messaging if the facility provides it. They can write letters to the children that arrive as evidence that someone is paying attention to them specifically.
The child in a small West Virginia community, being raised by a grandparent or the outside parent or some combination of both, is waiting for that evidence. Provide it. Say what needs to be said. The call from Mount Olive or Huttonsville or Lakin takes the same 10 minutes as a call from anywhere else in this series. Use those 10 minutes for the child who is waiting.