From [HERE] and [HERE] Five former Southern Regional Jail corrections officers have admitted to federal prosecutors that 37-year-old Quantez Burks died during a brutal beating by officers on March 1, 2022, while Burks was incarcerated at the jail, and they admit correctional officers conspired to keep the truth from the public and from the victim’s family.

As of Friday, November 15, 2024, eight officers have been charged in U.S. District Court in relation to Burks’ death.

Burks had been arrested Feb. 28, 2022, and charged with wanton endangerment and obstructing an officer, allegations related to discharging a firearm at his home during an argument. Burks had been at the jail less than 24 hours when he died after a series of alleged beatings, all while he was handcuffed.

Plea agreements state that correctional officers beat Burks until he collapsed and then carried him to another “blind spot,” or room without a camera, threw him face down on a concrete floor and continued the alleged beating. 

According to evidence presented in federal court, multiple officers responded to a call March 1, 2022, after Burks tried to push past officers in order to leave C-pod, a housing unit for inmates. They then took him to an interview room, a blind spot, because there were no surveillance cameras. Walters arrived at the room a minute after Burks and the other officers did. Attorneys said Burks was restrained, handcuffed and did not pose a threat to anyone.

After Burks was taken to A-pod, another blind spot, he went limp, and multiple officers had to carry him to the next interview room. Walters carried him with one arm and told Judge Goodwin that after arriving to A-pod, he swung Burks forward, hitting his head against the metal door frame and when the officers got him inside the room, they dropped him face down on the concrete floor, where they continued to beat him. He became unresponsive while in A-pod.

A number of inmates have died at SRJ since 2018, including Steven Robinson, Alvis Shrewsbury and Cameron Dunbrack, and their families have told 59News that West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials and West Virginia State Police investigators have failed to provide satisfactory answers regarding their deaths.

Latasha Williams, who was engaged to Quantez Burks, said in past interviews that she learned her fiancée had died when she called the office of a Raleigh County magistrate to inquire about setting bond for him and the clerk casually mentioned that he had died.

Kimberly Burks said neither officials from WVDCR, nor the agency which oversees it (West Virginia Department of Homeland Security) have yet informed the family of Quantez Burks’ death.

The family said they were not immediately provided an autopsy report by the State Medical Examiner’s Office, but the Burks family banded together to pay the $5,000 required for a private autopsy and to secure an attorney.

When the private autopsy showed Quantez Burks was beaten and likely died of a heart attack due to the beatings, Burks and Williams began a campaign to force officials to provide answers, they said.

The women showed up at public meetings and confronted elected officials, including Gov. Jim Justice, and asked for help.

Within days of Quantez Burks’ death, the West Virginia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had joined the family’s attorneys in calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation, and famed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump showed an interest, working with Georgia attorney Matthew Harman and Beckley attorney Stephen New.

The attorneys filed civil lawsuits and called on state officials to release video.