Skaff v. West Virginia Human Rights Commission

MILLER, Justice:

In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the West Virginia Human Rights Commission (HRC) has jurisdiction to accept complaints of racial discrimination by inmates in the State’s penal institutions. The appellants are several officials authorized by law to administer our penal institutions. They appeal an adverse ruling of the HRC holding that it does have jurisdiction.

The basis for the HRC’s assumption of jurisdiction was its belief that the State’s penal institutions are places of public accommodations, as defined in W.Va.Code, 5-11-S(j) (1992). 1 If these…