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On May 23, federal Judge Thomas Johnston ruled that a mentally ill man who had been held in solitary confinement at Mount Olive Correctional Complex for more than 12 years must be transferred to a state psychiatric facility.
Three months later, the man remains at MOCC.
On Monday, Johnston ruled that the MOCC superintendent and the West Virginia Department of Health Facilities Cabinet secretary are in contempt of his order because of their concerted actions to get around the ruling.
They will have to pay attorney’s fees and other costs yet to be determined.
Also, Johnston ruled that an assistant attorney general should be referred to the state attorney disciplinary board for her role in the case.
Initial order
This is a June 30, 2025 contributed photo of Keith Lowe, an inmate at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex in Fayette County.
Courtesy photo
Keith Lowe, 51, is serving a life sentence at MOCC for his 2005 conviction of the first-degree murder of Roy Loyd in Kanawha County. Due to disciplinary issues such as unsuccessful escape attempts, Lowe was placed in solitary confinement in July 2012.
In April, Lowe attempted suicide. Fearful of another attempt, his attorneys with Mountain State Justice filed a lawsuit asking for Lowe to be transferred out of solitary confinement and to a state psychiatric facility, such as William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital in Weston, which treats patients in the judicial system.
Johnston, a federal judge in the Southern District of West Virginia, granted this request and ordered that Lowe be transported “forthwith.â€Â However, the transfer still hasn’t happened.
At an August hearing, John Frame, MOCC superintendent, stated that he intended to transport Lowe to Sharpe but was then advised by state attorneys that he didn’t have to. Instead, they told Lowe, all he had to do to follow the order was file a petition through the state’s mental hygiene system.
Through this system, a mental hygiene commissioner holds hearings to determine whether someone should be committed involuntarily to a mental institution.
This case was unusual, however, as Lowe wanted to be committed to Sharpe. Frame, who filed the petition for involuntary commitment, argued against the placement and said MOCC could help Lowe, despite Johnston’s ruling that MOCC was incapable of treating Lowe.
Mental hygiene hearing
A mental hygiene hearing was held on May 30 in front of Fayette County Mental Hygiene Commissioner Evan Dove, according to court documents.
Several people appeared at the hearing, including Lowe, Frame, a public defender for Lowe, someone to speak to Lowe’s mental health and Gail Lipscomb, an assistant attorney general who said she represented Sharpe Hospital and the West Virginia Department of Health Facilities.
However, according to court documents and testimony, Lipscomb also seemed to represent Frame at the hearing. At this hearing, both Frame and Lipscomb argued that Lowe should not be sent to Sharpe for security reasons.
Sharpe Hospital does not have more security than any other psychiatric hospital in the state, Sharpe CEO Patrick Ryan testified in August.
Dove, in front of Johnston in August, testified that an assistant attorney general had only appeared in front of him twice in the approximately 1,000 cases he’s heard. Additionally, in all those cases, he had only heard an applicant argue against involuntary commitment they filed for around four or five times.
After a final mental hygiene hearing a month later, Dove found that MOCC was not providing adequate mental health care for Lowe but that he could not be transported to Sharpe Hospital due to Lowe’s “extremely violent†character. He gave a two-week deadline to find a suitable placement for Lowe.
The delay “came at a cost,†Johnston wrote.
Lowe was put into the mental health unit at MOCC on May 29. There, he has received more care, including telehealth psychiatric care. However, he is still just as isolated as in solitary confinement, according to court testimony.
For a “mystifying†reason, Johnston wrote, Lowe was allowed to have a razor, despite a previous suicide attempt with a razor.
At the beginning of July, just a few days after Dove’s ruling, Lowe severely harmed himself with a dull razor in what Johnston characterized as a “suicide attempt.â€
He remains in the MOCC mental health unit.
According to court testimony in August, Frame worked to find a placement for Lowe. He is scheduled to be transported to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Missouri around Sept. 10.
Contempt ruling
Yet, Johnston still found Frame and Michael Caruso, secretary of WVDHF, in contempt of his order.
Frame and the WVDHF — specifically through attorney Lipscomb — actively worked together at the mental hygiene hearing to circumvent the judge’s order and create a delay, according to Johnston.
“Put simply, Defendant Frame and Attorney Lipscomb were able to get a ruling directly at odds with this Court’s order based on the representations made at the probable cause hearing,†Johnston wrote.
Johnston wrote that, while he appreciated the additional care Frame arranged for Lowe, Frame still did not act in “good faith.â€
“Regardless of Defendants’ latest efforts to treat Plaintiff, it was not what the Court ordered. Their efforts to earn themselves extra credit through these actions do little to address the real problem of actively thwarting the transfer of Plaintiff,†he wrote.
Frame and Caruso will have to pay costs to Lowe’s attorneys and compensation for his July suicide attempt.
Lowe’s attorneys have 30 days to enumerate these costs to the court.
Attorney discipline
Additionally, Johnston condemned the actions of Lipscomb, who initially denied that she had argued against Lowe going to Sharpe hospital, according to Johnston's order. Then, when the audio recording of the mental hygiene hearing was submitted to the court, she filed a brief saying she had misremembered the hearing and apologized.
“Did Attorney Lipscomb honestly believe the truth was never going to come out? Apparently so,†Johnston wrote, adding that Lipscomb’s actions created “chaos for everyone in this proceeding.â€
Additionally, Lipscomb enabled Frame to violate Johnston’s order instead of counseling him on how his actions could cause him to be in contempt, Johnston wrote. And she "singlehandedly" put WVDHF in a position to violate the order.
Lipscomb ordered her conduct to be referred to the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board to decide what, if any, action should be taken against her.
Spokespersons for the Division of Corrections, the Department of Health Facilities and the Attorney General’s Office, which employs Lipscomb, said their offices had received the order and are reviewing it.
