A former officer at Southern Regional Jail in Raleigh County, West Virginia, was sentenced on Oct. 30, 2026, to 24 months in federal prison for joining a conspiracy to beat detainees where the jail’s cameras could not see, the U.S. Department of Justice said. In a separate case, a second former officer admitted that officers used those hidden spots for about two years, a stretch that ended on March 1, 2022, the day Quantez Burks died after officers beat him there. Federal prosecutors call Burks only “Q.B.,” but the date, place and circumstances in their releases match his death.
The officer is Michael Pack, 40, of Beckley. The jail is in Beaver and is run by the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, part of the state Department of Homeland Security.
What Michael Pack admitted
Pack pleaded guilty on March 30, 2026, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, the federal prosecutors for that part of the state. A guilty plea is a formal admission in court, so what Pack admitted is established, not alleged.
He had received a grand jury target letter, a notice that he was a focus of the investigation, on Nov. 5, 2025. Prosecutors then charged him by information, a charge filed without a grand jury indictment, which a defendant has to agree to and which usually signals a negotiated plea. The information and the plea agreement were filed the same day, March 9, 2026, court records show.
He entered the plea at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn. In a felony case, a magistrate judge can hold that hearing but only recommends; a district judge decides. Chief U.S. District Judge Frank W. Volk adjudged Pack guilty on May 4, 2026, and put off accepting the plea agreement until he had read the presentence report, a background report the court’s probation office prepares before sentencing, court records show.
The charge was one count of conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 371, the general federal law against agreeing with others to commit a crime. It carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the office said. The release did not name the crime the conspiracy aimed at. The case is No. 5:26-cr-30.
According to the Justice Department’s sentencing release, Pack admitted three things.
- He and others repeatedly struck a pretrial detainee (a person held while awaiting trial, not convicted) and pepper-sprayed him as punishment for kicking his cell door.
- He had the chance to step in when others in the conspiracy beat a handcuffed detainee in an interview room with no camera, and he did not.
- He wrote a false report that left out that the detainee had been taken to that room and said the man was not injured. Pack was present when the man was led out of the room handcuffed and bleeding from the head.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the department’s Civil Rights Division, said Pack “abused his authority and has received an appropriate measure of accountability.” The FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, through its Charleston Resident Agency, investigated.
A second officer and a longer pattern
A second former officer, Nathaniel Pack, 29, of Jumping Branch, pleaded guilty on July 22, 2026, in a separate case, No. 5:26-cr-79, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He too was charged by information. Volk adjudged him guilty on Aug. 13, 2026, and he is free on a $10,000 unsecured bond, meaning he owes the money only if he fails to appear, court records show. The releases do not say whether the two men are related.
His charge was conspiracy against rights under 18 U.S.C. § 241, a law against agreeing to violate someone’s constitutional rights. It carries up to 10 years in prison.
Nathaniel Pack admitted that from about April 2020 to about March 1, 2022, officers at the jail agreed to use unjustified force on inmates in “blind spots,” places the cameras did not cover, according to the office. He admitted taking part in at least seven such assaults, including:
- November 2020: officers handcuffed a pretrial detainee who had been kicking his cell door, took him to a blind-spot interview room and struck him.
- July 2021: a handcuffed pretrial detainee was struck in a blind-spot interview room and left with cuts and bleeding on his head.
- January 2022: a pretrial detainee was punched in two blind-spot locations.
He also admitted that on March 1, 2022, he told medical staff to wait before checking on a pretrial detainee identified as “Q.B.” so other officers would have time to use force on him, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said Q.B. was taken to “the blind spot interview room.” That is the day and the place where Burks was beaten. At the trial of a jail lieutenant in the Burks case, the jury heard evidence that Burks “was taken to two different ‘blind spots,’” U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote in a May 2025 opinion.
The Justice Department identifies the surviving detainees only by initials, which HeroNotZero is not repeating. None has been found speaking publicly.
Burks’s death had already led to federal charges against eight former officers, all now sentenced. Their terms run from three years, for Jacob Boothe, to 21 years, for Johnathan Walters, according to the Justice Department. “Behind prison walls, abuse often goes unchecked,” Goodwin wrote. “Not so in this case.”
How it stayed hidden
Court records and admissions describe four ways the beatings were kept out of view.
Cameras did not cover everything. Officers used known blind spots so the beatings would not be recorded, according to the Justice Department.
Officers wrote the records. After using force, officers file a report on what happened. Conspirators filed false reports that left out injuries “so that the conspirators would not be investigated,” the department said. Michael Pack’s own report called a bleeding man uninjured.
Officers controlled medical care. Nathaniel Pack admitted telling medical staff to delay an exam so others could use force, according to prosecutors.
A supervisor took part in the cover-up. A former lieutenant, Chad Lester, was convicted by a jury on Jan. 27, 2025 on three obstruction charges, meaning crimes of interfering with an investigation, tied to the Burks cover-up, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Goodwin sentenced him on May 15, 2025, to 17 and a half years in prison.
The public record leaves basic questions open. Did jail leadership know where the blind spots were? Were cameras added there, and when? Why did no supervisor or internal review catch the false reports before the FBI got involved?
So do the sentences. Jacob Boothe pleaded guilty to failing to intervene in the Burks beating, the charge closest to what Michael Pack admitted, and received three years. Pack received two. Pack was charged under a law with a five-year maximum; Nathaniel Pack’s charge allows up to 10. The records reviewed do not say why prosecutors chose § 371 for Michael Pack, whether his plea deal requires him to help prosecutors, what guideline range the court calculated, or what sentence the government sought.
Also in the case
- Other Burks sentences include Andrew Fleshman, 8 years and 4 months; Corey Snyder, 19 years and 7 months from Goodwin (WV MetroNews also reported it); Mark Holdren, 20 years; and Ashley Toney, six and a half years, for failing to intervene, according to the Justice Department.
- Burks’s aunt, Diane Rector, called him a “sacrificial lamb” in court, and the family hopes his death inspires change, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
- A class action (a lawsuit on behalf of a large group) over jail conditions (Rose v. Sandy, No. 5:22-cv-00405) settled for $4 million about a week after a magistrate judge said some records in the case had been intentionally destroyed, the Associated Press reported; the Gazette-Mail reported final approval on Dec. 5, 2024.
- An early public sign of a federal inquiry came in October 2022, when The Register-Herald was refused a jail tour because “the federal government is in the process of investigating the facility,” according to Morgan Switzer, deputy general counsel for the state Department of Homeland Security.
- Michael Pack’s sentencing was first set for July 24, 2026, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office; a court calendar later listed Aug. 28, and it took place Oct. 30. Both Pack cases are assigned to Volk, court records show. The records reviewed do not explain the delays.
- West Virginia’s law on abuse of incarcerated people by those in a position of trust (W. Va. Code § 61-8B-10) appears to cover sexual offenses, and its mandatory reporting laws appear to cover children (§ 49-2-803) and incapacitated adults (§ 9-6-9), not force against adult inmates. HeroNotZero has not confirmed these readings or obtained the division policy that sets internal reporting at the jail.
- Federal civil rights lawsuits in West Virginia generally must be filed within two years under § 55-2-12, which raises the question of whether detainees beaten in 2020 or 2021 can still sue.
- The general federal deadline for charging a crime is five years (18 U.S.C. § 3282). For a conspiracy the clock starts at its last act, which prosecutors place around March 1, 2022, so for the beatings in which no one died the deadline likely falls around March 2027. Civil rights crimes that result in death have no deadline: §§ 241 and 242 allow a death sentence in that case, and under § 3281 such a crime can be charged at any time. Prosecutors have described other members of the conspiracy but not named them, and whether more officers will be charged is not known.
- It is unclear whether jail officers fall under the state’s Law Enforcement Professional Standards program (W. Va. Code ch. 30, art. 29), which certifies police, and so whether the state can bar convicted officers from future corrections work.
What happens next
No further hearing in Michael Pack’s case has been found. HeroNotZero has not yet reviewed his written judgment, his report date for prison or any appeal.
Nathaniel Pack’s sentencing, first set for Dec. 4, was moved to Jan. 22, 2027, before Volk, by an Aug. 24, 2026 order that cites a delay in discovery, the stage in which each side turns over its evidence, court records show.
Sources
Court records
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia, calendar entry, USA vs. Michael Pack: https://www.wvsd.uscourts.gov/content/usa-vs-michael-pack
- United States v. Michael Pack, No. 5:26-cr-30 (S.D. W.Va.), docket via CourtListener: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72380967/united-states-v-pack/
- United States v. Nathaniel Pack, No. 5:26-cr-79 (S.D. W.Va.), docket via CourtListener: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73671424/united-states-v-pack/
- United States v. Chad Lester, No. 5:23-cr-00188-4 (S.D. W.Va.), memorandum opinion (May 15, 2025): https://www.wvsd.uscourts.gov/sites/wvsd/files/opinions/5-23-cr-188-4%20MemOp%20-%20Lester.pdf
- Rose v. Sandy, No. 5:22-cv-00405, settlement website: https://wvsrjsettlement.com/
Officials’ releases
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Former Correctional Officer Sentenced on Federal Civil Rights Charges in Connection with Conspiracy” (Oct. 30, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-correctional-officer-sentenced-federal-civil-rights-charges-connection-conspiracy
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, S.D. W.Va., Michael Pack guilty plea (April 1, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdwv/pr/former-west-virginia-correctional-officer-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-against-inmates
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Michael Pack guilty plea (April 1, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/west-virginia-correctional-officer-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-against-inmates-rights
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, S.D. W.Va., Nathaniel Pack guilty plea (July 2026): https://justice.gov/usao-sdwv/pr/additional-west-virginia-correctional-officer-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-against-inmates
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, eighth former officer sentenced in Burks death (source for all eight sentences): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/eighth-former-correctional-officer-sentenced-federal-civil-rights-charges-connection-death
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, S.D. W.Va., release referencing Chad Lester conviction: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdwv/pr/former-corrections-officer-sentenced-over-six-years-prison-federal-civil-rights
Laws
- W. Va. Code § 61-8B-10: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/61-8B-10/
- W. Va. Code § 49-2-803: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/49-2-803/
- W. Va. Code § 9-6-9: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/9-6-9/
- W. Va. Code § 55-2-12: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/55-2-12/
- W. Va. Code ch. 30, art. 29: https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-29/
- 18 U.S.C. §§ 241, 242, 371, 3281 and 3282 (federal statutes)
News coverage
- WV MetroNews, Snyder sentencing (July 10, 2025): https://wvmetronews.com/2025/07/10/two-more-former-southern-regional-jail-correctional-officers-sentenced-to-prison-for-roles-in-inmate-death/
- WV MetroNews, Michael Pack plea (April 1, 2026): https://wvmetronews.com/2026/04/01/former-southern-regional-jail-officer-pleads-guilty-in-excessive-force-conspiracy/
- WV MetroNews, Rose v. Sandy settlement (Nov. 9, 2023): https://wvmetronews.com/2023/11/09/state-and-inmates-of-southern-regional-jail-reach-settlement-deal-in-class-action-lawsuit/
- Associated Press via WBOY, Holdren sentencing: https://www.wboy.com/news/crime/former-west-virginia-officers-sentenced-to-decades-in-prison-for-their-role-in-deadly-inmate-assault/
- West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Toney sentencing: https://wvpublic.org/story/government/third-officer-sentenced-for-inmates-death-at-southern-regional-jail/
- Associated Press via Insurance Journal, records destruction finding (Nov. 9, 2023): https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2023/11/09/747709.htm
- Charleston Gazette-Mail, $4 million settlement approval: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/legal_affairs/one-wv-jail-conditions-suit-settled-for-4m-another-100k-settlement-proposed/article_d15c1f50-b8cc-11ef-ac03-33742c1c0bbf.html
- Charleston Gazette-Mail, Burks family: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/legal_affairs/sacrificial-lamb-family-of-man-beaten-to-death-at-srj-hopes-he-inspires-change/article_f000962a-8126-484f-bb0e-4a9684b26648.html
- The Register-Herald via Yahoo News, federal investigation and tour refusal: https://news.yahoo.com/conditions-raleigh-county-jail-prompt-071300539.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
- Utica Phoenix, Nathaniel Pack sentencing date (not independently confirmed): https://uticaphoenix.net/southern-regional-jail-nathaniel-pack-lester-accountability/
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