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New Hampton Roads Regional Jail Superintendent chosen

Posted at 5:16 PM, Feb 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-21 12:38:57-05

ronaldo-myersPORTSMOUTH, Va. – Ronaldo Myers has been unanimously chosen as the Hampton Roads Regional Jail Superintendent by the Personnel Committee.

Myers officially accepted the offer Tuesday, February 21.

Starting March 13, Myers will take over the HRRJ from Interim Superintendent Sheriff Jim O’Sullivan. Sheriff O’Sullivan stepped in as Interim Superintendent in December 2016. He plans to stay on at the regional jail for a few weeks, to help smooth the transition.

He was chosen from a pool of 29 candidates.

Myers has risen through the ranks to serve as Director of the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The Detention Center houses approximately 800 prisoners which consist of both County residents and those of five municipalities located in Richland County. Additionally, the facility has a 24 bed juvenile detention center that is co-located within the same perimeter as the 1,120 bed adult detention center. Myers is responsible for adult and juvenile operations.

The Portsmouth NAACP branch has expressed concerns with the staff currently working in the jail, as well as the medical staff that is under contract with the jail.

On August 19, 2015, 24-year-old Jamycheal Mitchell’s body was found inside the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. The lawsuit says he withered away in jail and died from wasting syndrome.

A judge’s order that would have sent Mitchell to a state mental health facility had been sitting in a file drawer for weeks before his death.

A Portsmouth judge ordered Mitchell to Eastern State Hospital for mental health treatment two times. A state investigation revealed the second order on July 31, 2015 made it to the hospital admission coordinator, but she never placed Mitchell on the waiting list. Mitchell was arrested in April 2015for stealing $5 in food from a Portsmouth convenience store. The investigation into Mitchell’s death was completed in early December.

Mitchell’s family filed a $60 million lawsuit.

Henry Stewart died in early August 2016. His family said they received an emergency grievance form returned to them with the rest of his possessions. The form states thatStewart repeatedly begged for medical help.