A Look Beneath the Hood of Racist Official Abuse and Violence in Virginia’s Remote Prisons (2026) By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

Deliberate Environment of Racism in Va’s Rural Prisons

Virginia’s criminal (in)justice system operates under an officially designed culture of racism and abuse.

It is not by accident that Va’s prison population is predominantly male and inordinately Black.

Black male prisoners are then disproportionately confined in the state’s highest security prisons where conditions are the most brutal and privileges are fewest, while white prisoners are disproportionately housed in the lower security prisons where greater privileges and rehabilitation programs are available. Also, the few whites who are confined in Va’s highest security prisons are usually concentrated in privileged cellblocks and hold the best and highest paying jobs.

All of Va’s high security prisons are located in the state’s remote Western Region, amid poor racially segregated white communities whose members have little prior contact with Blacks, and where racism is a traditional feature of the local cultures. The near totally staff therefore come into these prisons with deeply ingrained racial biases and stereotypes of people of color, many with an agenda to act out racist fantasies. This deliberately created racial power imbalance fueled by racial hostility generates a culture of abuse and violence against the Black prisoner populations, which replicates the same inherently inhumane, terrorizing, and deadly environments that existed during slavery and Jim Crow segregation, where voiceless and powerless Blacks are policed by hostile armed whites who have total power to vent their social-economic frustrations on them and monopolize the narrative of any event to justify violent abuses.

Keen Mountain Correctional (sic!) Center (KMCC), where I am presently confined, is one of Va’s high security prisons located in its remote Western Region, where this officially created culture of racist abuse exists.

An Insider’s Look at the Local Rural Culture

Adrian Edwards is a Black man in his 40s from Bristol, Tn, which is a border town on both sides of the Tn/Va line. He lived in Tazewell, Va, which is about a hour from KMCC. Adrian grew up in Bristol on the Va side, so he knows the culture local to this remote region where there are a handful of small isolated Black communities, and offers a snapshot. According to him, Buchanan County, Va, where KMCC is located is extremely racist. Young whites from Tazewell who interact with the small Black communities there, often fight Buchanan County whites because of their racist culture.

The culture in Wise County, Va, where Va’s two supermax prisons, Red Onion and Wallens Ridge State Prisons are located, is much the same as Buchanan County, which is located about a hour away. Many of the whites who work in these Southwestern Va prisons are from these counties and places like Pikeville, Kentucky, which is one of the most racist areas of Ky; and from regions of West Virginia known for killing Blacks. Because he is from the region of small communities where most people know each other, Adrian is known by many of the staff at these remote prisons, where he has been targeted because he is married to and has a child by local white women, which is frowned on by many of these whites.

Racist Accusations of Black Male Sexual Deviance

On July 20, 2026 Adrian was targeted while we were on lockdown at KMCC. Officials had a white female guard named Williams falsely accuse him of exposing himself nude to her from an upstairs shower area in his cellblock. Surveillance camera footage showed, and all involved staff knew, that he was never in the upstairs shower. In fact he never uses the upstairs showers because he walks with a cane. Yet, the unit sergeant Bowen and a group of guards called him into the unit hallway, forced him into handcuffs behind his back, and threw him in solitary confinement, where he immediately filed a PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) complaint for the fabricated and humiliating accusation of sexual deviance. The same guard Williams then packed up his personal property, a large portion of which was thrown away or lost. A common practice of these staff is to give prisoners’ property to their informants or to give Black prisoners’ property away to white prisoners.

Because of the scrutiny brought by his PREA complaint validated by the surveillance camera footage showing that he was never in any upstairs shower, Adrian was released from solitary and returned to general population two days later. Upon his filing grievances charging racially motivated sexual harassment, KMCC administrators tried to bribe him to drop his complaints offering him choice jobs.

Fabricated allegations of deviant sexual acts committed against white women is a well-documented practice of racist Southern whites used to incite and speciously justify abuses of Black males who defied the ‘norms’ of Southern white society, including thousands of festive mob lynchings. (1)

As a result of outside complaints about his denied treatment, promoted by my article and involvement of the prisoner support group UPROAR (Uniting Prisoners’ Relatives Organizing Against Repression), Mr. Glass was moved to another controversial Western Region prison, River North Correctional (sic!) Center, where his denied care continued. In fact River North officials are having his medical condition reassessed so they can change his diagnosis and prescribed care and thereby justify refusing to house him outside the Western Region where he can receive previously prescribed treatment and therapy. Bernardo Coles, another older Black man, has suffered similarly at KMCC.

During 2023 Mr. Coles admittedly took a handful of syringes from the KMCC medical department. The incident was captured on surveillance camera and resulted in a nurse being fired for leaving the syringes in an unsecured area. Because of the nurse’s firing, Mr. Coles has been a target of retaliation by KMCC medical and security staff.

A lieutenant M. Blankenship, who charged him with the stolen syringes, packed up his property including his television, which was thrown or given away.

Then, during early 2025 KMCC medical staff ignored Mr. Coles’s repeated complaints for months that his foot was infected. As a result gangrene developed in the affected area requiring him to require several surgeries and confinement to a wheelchair.

On August 6, 2026 his wheelchair was taken by medical staff. With his foot still unhealed he was forced to climb stairs to retrieve his medications by a nurse named Bennett. Mr. Coles’s wheelchair was taken following my report and outside protests about Mr. Glass’s confinement at KMCC, which is not a wheelchair accessible prison, while Mr. Glass cannot walk due to his neuropathy and spinal condition. Mr. Coles contacted UPROAR, who protested his taken wheelchair and denied medications by Bennett.

Denials of Medical Care

Denial of needed medical care is another feature of racial abuse in these remote prisons. James Glass, a 70 year old Black man who suffers a debilitating spinal condition and diabetic neuropathy that I recently wrote about is a example. (2)

He was then moved to the medical department on August 14, 2026 under direct supervision of the medical staff who are incensed at him, including Bennett. In that department a white prisoner, Thomas Hill, who has open ulcers in his feet, spoke to UPROAR about witnessing nurse Bennett’s continued harassment of Mr. Coles. Thomas was then confronted by Bennett, who told him that it was “just like a Jew to take up for a nigger.”

A few weeks later Thomas was discharged from the medical department and placed in an upstairs general population cell. Nurses have since refused to provide Thomas his prescribed daily dressing changes for his feet or to follow his prescribed treatment plans. Thomas, who was moved into my cellblock, showed me his swollen legs and bleeding feet, which clearly require acute medical care in a sterile environment and his use of walking aids. He has no business being made to walk the long distance to the prison’s dining hall, bathing in regular unsterilized showers used by other prisoners, and climbing stairs going to and from his cell. His housing move was clearly retaliation for him speaking up on Mr. Coles’s behalf, emphasized by nurse Bennett’s antisemitic and racist remarks.

Following further complaints by UPROAR on his behalf, Mr. Cole was also discharged from the medical department on August 20, 2026 without any walking aid and put in an upstairs cell, where, like Thomas, he was forced to walk up and down stairs with an unresolved foot injury going to an from his cell. His job as a cell house worker was also terminated without explanation or cause.

The pattern of bigoted denials of care for debilitating medical conditions by providers in retaliation for exposure and complaints of denied care is clear.

Targeting of Randolph “dramaraw” Broward

Randolph “Dramaraw” Broward is a Black man who has been targeted with a campaign of abuses at KMCC.

Broward is recognized by officials to have broad influence with other prisoners, which they have angled to have him use to exert control for them. Which he has refused to do.

On August 4, 2026 he mediated a conflict between two white prisoners in his cellblock. Guards in his unit thought the whites had a conflict with Broward and hoped to facilitate an assault on him by them. To achieve this the control booth guard opened his cell during lockdown to allow the whites to enter his cell.

When nothing occurred, a group of guards threw Broward into solitary confinement claiming falsely that he was seen slapping one of the whites inside his cell, which surveillance camera footage and the involved white prisoners confirmed never happened. Even were it true, the guards had opened his cell and allowed a group of prisoners to enter it during a lockdown, a blatant violation of security and movement protocol. What could not be explained was why Broward, and no one else, was thrown in solitary.

The prison investigator, Miller, along with the unit manager and ranking guards threatened the white prisoners, attempting to coerce them to repeat Miller’s false narrative that Broward slapped one of them. When they refused to tell this lie, Miller had them transferred.

Broward’s outside supporters complained about his mistreatment to headquarters administrators, leading to their inquiries and Miller’s demotion and suspension for filing false reports about the incident.

The targeting of Broward and others around him continued. On September 4, 2026, a transgender prisoner Bria Young was talking to Broward standing at his cell door, which was closed. A guard posted in their cellblock’s control booth pointed a shotgun at Young for no reason. Upon Broward’s advice, Young went to the control booth and asked the guard his name. The guard responded by immediately spraying Young in the face with tear gas, stating, “Get your faggot ass away from this booth!”

Broward was then targeted with a staged cell search where he was accused of having a weapon in his cell.

Broward further revealed in an August 4, 2026 complaint (log number KMCC-26-wri-01814) that another reason he was targeted by Miller and others was because he is “an identified East Coast Blood leader” who has refused to play into Miller and other staff’s practice of “manufacturing conflicts” between prisoners, especially through using gangs, in all the housing units. Which includes their appealing to Broward to be a “hired gun” for them; or, in other words, to carry out violent hits for them against other prisoners they dislike. Many other identified leaders and members of such groups attest to this practice by prison “gang units”, ” intelligence “, and administrative staff.

A Proudly Racist Staff Instigating White Racial Violence

Across my decades of confinement in SW Va prisons, I have witnessed the common practice of their white staff encouraging white prisoners to embrace white supremacist views and affiliations. On July 24, 2026 as I was showering, I overheard a conversation between a white guard, A. Tilley, and several white prisoners. Tilley boasted about the local racist culture, stating among other things, “where I’m from we make Holocaust jokes.” She also told them, “the deeper you go in the parts the worse we are,” and boasted how she showed Black prisoners where she was from by the epithets she called them whenever they angered her.

The danger of this isolated racially polarized environment comes through in white staff’s inciting and facilitating white gangs in acts of racist violence. In a 2024 article I discussed Va prison officials facilitating the growth of racially violent white supremacist gangs, by transferring members of such groups from other states into these remote SW Va prisons where they influence and recruit Va whites and aid their acts of violence against Black prisoners. (3) This practice continues.

In fact during mid 2026, one such white supremacist prisoner who’d been interstate transferred to Va from Nevada, whom I’ll call Walter, was induced by guards to attack a Black prisoner Michael Bray in KMCC’s C-4 cellblock. Without warning Walter punched Bray in front of guards in the control booth. A guard in the booth the shot Bray in the face with a shotgun. When Bray fell to the floor from the gunshot, Walter was allowed to continue attacking him at length. No force was used to subdue Walter at all. As white guards laughingly led Walter from the unit after the incident, he yelled out, “White power!”

Walter was soon returned to general population, where he openly recruited other whites to his cause, whom KMCC administrators moved into the cellblock with him. Walter was openly feted by white staff of all ranks with whom he joked and fraternized like they were coworkers.

On September 25, 2026 KMCC administrators moved Walter back into the C-4 cellblock where he was previously aided by guards in attacking Bray. Upon entry into the unit he proceeded to stab an unarmed elderly Black prisoner. A younger Black prisoner intervened to defend the elder and was also repeatedly stabbed. Walter was allowed to commit these stabbings and attempted to stab several other unarmed Blacks as guards stood by watching. In fact he told the guards, “Get behind me because these niggers ain’t gonna do shit!”

Walter was taken to solitary confinement but released back to general population four days later without disciplinary action and returned to the cellblock where he had been previously recruiting other whites, where it was rumored he was attempting to incite them to violently attack Blacks in the unit. I met with several Blacks in that cellblock in preparation for responding to that situation. In a secure conversation I notified outside supporters with UPROAR of the situation and my involvement, and informed them to allow us to correct it on the inside.

Meantime Broward’s outside supporters, including prisoner advocate Marsha King, questioned headquarters administrators as to why during this same time Broward was being held at length in solitary for an alleged weapon infraction after a prior confinement upon false claims of slapping a white prisoner, while a documented white supremacist gang member was allowed to stab numerous unarmed Blacks and was released back to general population just 4 days later.

On October 1, 2026 Walter was returned to solitary for his own safety.

The history of white prison officials creating racial divisions and collaborating with, arming, instigating, protecting and supporting white supremacist groups in violent attacks on Blacks is a long one going back to the days of Jim Crow. George Jackson gave testament to it in his book of prison writings. In a June 11, 1970 letter to his lawyer Faye Stender, he wrote

“They are fighting upstairs right now. It’s 11:10 AM, June 11. No Black is supposed to be on the tier with anyone but other Blacks but – mistakes take place – and one or two Blacks end up on the tier with 9 to 10 white convicts frustrated by the living conditions or openly working with the pigs. The whole ceiling is trembling. In hand-to-hand combat we always win; we lose sometimes if the pigs give them knives or zip guns,…but I must be fair. Sometimes (not more often than necessary) they’ll set up one of the Mexicans or white convicts. He’ll be one who has not been sufficiently racist in his attitudes. After the brothers (enraged by previous attacks) kick on this white convict whom officials have set up, he’ll fall right in line with the rest.” (4)

Conclusion

The operations of Va’s remote prisons as known environments of racist abuse, that terrorize and place the lives and safety of the disproportionate numbers of Blacks concentrated in them in danger, are totally unjustified.

>From the outset these prisons were never operated nor needed to address any valid prison security needs. As Va delegate and legislative Black Caucus member Michael Jones observed in 2025, these remote SW Va prisons are inhumane, practice open racism against Blacks, and exist to prop up rural white economies which he called “asinine.” (5)

Those in power have always been the creators, manipulators and beneficiaries of racism. No less inside prisons. For over a year UPROAR has been demanding the closure of these unneeded expensive prisons operated at a waste of taxpayer money, and that those responsible for their abuses be held accountable. The culture of racist abuse, terror and violence being cultivated in them is yet another reason it must happen.

Dare to struggle Dare to Win!

All Power to the People!

___________________

Endnotes:

1. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a early voice of exposure of the widespread practice of Southern whites using false claims of Black male sexual deviance against white women to incite and justify lynchings. As a result of her exposés, her newspaper office was burned down by whites. Her 1892 books, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases and A Red Record:

Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States,

were the first studies to compile statistics and analyze the true causes of lynching.

2. Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, “As Clear as Glass: A Case of Severe Disability Neglect in a Remote Virginia Prison” (2026), http://rashidmod.com/?p=4138

3. Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, “From Gang Wars to Race Wars: Officials Continue to Manufacture Group Violence in Virginia Prisons” (2024), http://rashidmod.com/?p=3642

4. George L. Jackson, Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago, Ill; 1994), pp.19-20

5. See, Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, “Propping Up Virginia’s Rural With Prisons is ‘Asinine’ Says Virginia Legislator” (2025), http://rashidmod.com/?p=3765

Luca Powell, “Richmond Delegate Made A Surprise Visit to Red Onion, Cals For More Oversight,” Richmond Times Dispatch, Jan 1, 2025

Luca Powell, “Red Onion Officials Suggested Making Inmates Pay For Burn Treatment,” Richmond Times Dispatch, Jan 9, 2025