Deputy Director Joseph W. Walters was elevated to lead the Virginia Department of Corrections. His portfolio has long sat where prison labor, “compliance,” and the grievance maze intersect.
When Governor Abigail Spanberger moved to replace Chadwick Dotson at the Virginia … Read the rest
Since Nov 17, 2025 Virgina’s media has been awash with reports that on that day a guard in the state’s River North Correctional (sic!) Center was stabbed to death by a prisoner. Two other guards were reported as also injured … Read the rest
The inhumanity of Virginia’s prisons knows no limits. The experiences of Neil Lyness aka Turbo proves the case. Neil is a double-amputee who lost his left arm and left leg in a motorcycle accident. He’s been confined since 2012, where … Read the rest
The Virginia legislature created an ombudsman’s office in July 2024, charged with overseeing and investigating the Virginia prison system. Andrea Sapone was appointed as ombudsman that September. The creation of this office was backed by advocacy groups who believed the … Read the rest
THROUGH COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT VIRGINIA OFFICIALS PROMPT PRISONERS TO VIOLENTLY POLICE EACH OTHER (2025) By Kevin "Rashid" Johnson If anyone needed further confirmation that Virgina's top officials can't be trusted to safely run the state's prisons, their recently created policy of… Read the rest
On May 24, 2025 a second rally will be held in downtown Richmond, Virginia against abuses in the state’s remote prisons.
We are calling to shut down the state’s two supermax prisons Red Onion and Wallens Ridge, notorious for racism … Read the rest
Virginia’s rural prisons came into the spotlight in 2024, after several prisoners at Red Onion State Prison, myself included, went on prolonged hunger strikes protesting abusive conditions there, then a dozen more set themselves on fire in desperate efforts to … Read the rest
The following is the second part of an interview with Kevin “Rashid” Johnson by James K. Anderson a member of the IWW Freelance Journalist Union. The first part was titled, “Striking Back Against Prison Slavery.”
JAMES ANDERSON: In the first … Read the rest
Two of the most widely publicized and vocal prisoners who set themselves on fire during latter 2024 in desperate responses to racism and abuses at Virginia’s notorious Red Onion State Prison have been transferred out of state.
Ekong Eshiet has … Read the rest
