This is a second addendum to an article I circulated on October 26 and 31, 2004 and supplemented on January 1, 2005, entitled \u201cRed Onion State Prison: an Expose \u2013 Racim and Brutality Equals Kind and Usual Punishment in Virginia.\u201d
\n That article and January 1st supplement described continuous brutal and racist abuses of nonwhite segregation prisoners here at ROSP by white officials, and the persistent refusal of official
\n authorities to resolve the problem. What follows in a further account of such abuses as continue to
\n occur despite the circulation of that initial expose.<\/p>\n
There is a housing using (C500 unit) next to the C400 superseg unit that remained empty for
\n several months prior to December 2004. On December 15, 2004, several new intakes to ROSP and a
\n few prisoners who\u2019d already been housed at ROSP were moved into the C500 unit \u2013 ten prisoners total
\n \u2013 and all placed on the lower tier and leaving the 2 upstairs cells empty. These prisoners were immediately targeted with systematic intimidation by attacks and abuse. During the time that much of
\n this was occurring I had been moved to an unit on the other side of the building where I remained from
\n November 30, 2004 through February 2, 2005. The following accounts of abuses in the C500 unit were
\n relayed to me by Christopher Tinker #283653 who personally witnessed, recorded and suffered abuses
\n in the C500 unit.<\/p>\n
On December 17 2004, A. Marshall #330439 was subjected to an unprovoked premeditated
\n assault during shower period, witnessed by Christopher Tinker. Tinker, who was housed in the cell next
\n to Marshall, was next in line to be taken to the showers, but was skipped by prison guards Reece and
\n Harr, who went to Marshall\u2019s cell and cuffed and shackled him. As they were bringing Marshall to his
\n feet from the kneeling position, these guards rushed him to the floor inside the cell face first and began
\n beating him at length with firsts, digging fingers into his eyes and slapping him. He suffered
\n hemorrhages across the whites of his eyes, facial bruising and swelling. Prison guard R. Phipps rushed
\n into the unit and cell to join in the assault and prison guard R. Boyd stood bodily blocking the cell
\n doorway to obstruct view of the beatings from the unit surveillance camera and prisoners already inside
\n the showers. Nurse T. Phipps (wife of prison guard R. Phipps) \u2019checked\u2019 Marshall and noted no serious
\n injuries. Marshall was put into ambulatory restraints and had all his personal property removed from
\n the cell.<\/p>\n
Later, while Marshall was in ambulatory restraints, lieutenant S. Harrison and sergeant J. Mahan
\n entered the cell with no video cameras around 11:15 AM under the pretext of giving him his lunch
\n meal, but both stood eating his lunch in his presence. Around 2:30 PM Harrison, Mahan, Harr, and R.
\n Phipps entered the cell again under pretext of giving him his supper meal. Wile in the cell each
\n demanded that Marshall state \u201cLieutenant Harrison is your daddy\u201d, otherwise he would not receive his
\n meal. Marshall refused to make this statement and was denied his supper.
\n Tinker repeatedly spoke up on behalf of Marshall and others and tried to file emergency
\n complaints about the abuses, but each complaint except two involving threats to him were destroyed by
\n guards whom he\u2019d delivered them to for processing. On that December 17, 2004 date Harrison remarked
\n to Tinker that he\u2019d receive the same treatment as Marshall had because he spoke up about Marshall\u2019s
\n abuse.<\/p>\n
On December 18, 2004 prison guard R. Boyd threw all of Marshall\u2019s personal belongings that
\n were removed from his cell the day before into the trash. Boyd stood in full presence of the camera and
\n prisoners ripping up Marshall\u2019s legal papers, personal mail, and photographs, etc. Marshall presently
\n has no property in his cell.<\/p>\n
On December 19 and 21, 2004 Tinker was able to file two emergency complaints that guards
\n were threatening him with the same treatment as Marshall had received. (Emergency grievence log #s
\n 66267 and 66265)<\/p>\n
On December 30, 2004 another premeditated extensive assault was carried out against a prisoners Brian Farabee #331221, by lieutenant S. Harrison, sergeant D. Tate, sergeant T. McLoy and
\n prison guard Comer, who beat hm for several minutes while handcuffed and shackled. Farabee could be
\n heard screaming out in pain and repeated multiple blows heard landing on him through the unit.
\n Farabee was given no medical care.<\/p>\n
Another prisoner \u2013 name and number unknown-who was housed in cell C507 since November 16th was also repeatedly threatened and harassed. Various ranking prison guards including captain K.
\n Chris, lieutenant S. Harrison, and others were repeatedly heard telling him to \u201cgo ahead and kill
\n yourself\u201d. Feeling that his meals were tampered with and that the guards were trying to kill him, he
\n stopped accepting meals and began stating that he would in fact kill himself first. Tinker, in hopes of
\n helping this prisoner, sent a complaint to the ROSP mental health department, stating he believed the
\n prisoner was being pushed to the point of suicide. The next day mental health staff visited the prisoner
\n and he was moved out of the unit.<\/p>\n
Most of the prisoners in the C500 unit were subject to harassment and threats by guards on a
\n daily basis.<\/p>\n
Tinker was subsequently targeted for assault because of his persisting in speaking up and trying
\n to complain about the continued witnessed abuses and attacks of others and his writing affidavits for
\n them, and consistent with threats repeatedly made against him. Upon his being brought in off the
\n exercise yard on January 22, 2005, escorted by prison guards J. Salyers went into
\n Tinker\u2019s cell and ripped down and tore up pictures he had on his cell wall. Tinker did not react but,
\n following this, knelt down allowing himself to be unshackled in front of the unit surveillance cameras as
\n the cell door was nearly completely closed, Salyers manually snatched it back open and bodily jumped
\n on Tinker\u2019s back from behind while he was still handcuffed, driving him face-forward to the floor, and another guard S. Long kicked him. Salyers is some 6\u20194\u201d tall, about 280 lbs., whereas Tinker is 5\u20194\u201d tall
\n and 140 lbs. Tinker was put into ambulatory restraints and moved to an isolated cell in the superseg unit
\n (cell C401) where he remains til today.\n <\/p>\n
In the 300 and 400 units of C-building the first two cells are punitive isolation cells which have
\n always been used as a retaliatory housing device against prisoners disliked by guards. These cells have
\n no desks or other writing surfaces in them like the other cells, they have no electrical outlets and have
\n restraint beds situation in them directly in the center of the cell, leaving little room for movement and
\n no room to exercise inside these cells.<\/p>\n
The practice inside the C500 unit of using scare tactics of assaults and intimidation against new
\n ROSP arrivals spans back to 1998 when ROSP first opened. Nonwhite prisoners were then on a daily
\n basis shot and electricuted with tasers, beaten, and literally dragged naked through the prison (in front
\n of other prisoners and female guards) from the intake area to assigned cells. This was all recorded by
\n portable audiovideo cameras. This admitted practice led to an outcry by human rights organizations
\n and prisoners\u2019 loved ones and, in addition to other similarly degrading and heinous abuses, earned
\n ROSP an almost instant and continuing national reputation for racist brutality. Despite the change of
\n ROSP wardens five times, conditions have not changed. The reasons why this is have been already
\n given in my original expose and January 2005 suppliment.<\/p>\n
In obvious retaliation for my having exposed the abuses here in that expose and
\n supplementation, I was targeted, under supervision of sergeant D. Tate, with a malicious cell search. All
\n of my property was taken to the front of the unit and systematically ransacked, read through, thrown
\n about and much thrown away by seven guards (prison guards Middleton, Comer, McClellan, Smith,
\n Stanley, and O\u2019Quinn). These guards systematically read through and removed documents from my
\n property and in fact filled an entire large paper bag with them. These documents were taken out of the
\n unit by D. Tate and I\u2019ve not seen them again. Included in those documents were records related to
\n incidents of guard abuses, copies of the expose, supplement, etc. This was all done directly in front of
\n the unit surveillance camera. My stamps were also taken.<\/p>\n
I immediately filed emergency complaints to have the unit surveillance camera tape preserved as
\n evidence to show what was done to my property and the blatant theft of my documents etc. My
\n complaints were evaded or disappeared. To falsely substantiate the treatment of my property, I was
\n issued a disciplinary report alleging contraband to have been found in my property which the camera
\n tape would obviously show never happened.<\/p>\n
On January 31, 2005 I was finally able to get complaints filed about the January 17th incident.
\n The complaints were processed on February 1, 2005 by the very group of guards named in my expose
\n as involved in repeated assaults, viz. Prison guards R. Phipps, R. Boyd, and McCowan. I was subjected
\n to immediate abuse and had my belongings ransacked by them two days in a row and my television
\n taken. Phipps repeatedly questioned me during these \u2019searches\u2019 as to whether I\u2019d written any more letters
\n to the outside about staff assaults on prisoners.<\/p>\n
On February 17, 2005 yet another shakedown was conducted, during which my belongings were
\n treated in a similar manner as before by prison guards R. Boyd, Wright, Mullins, sergeant A. Kilbourne,
\n and charges were again fabricated for contraband. Upon these same guards\u2019 searching Tinker\u2019s cell they discovered and threw away numerous affidavits and logs he\u2019d written about the routine abuses occuring
\n while he was in the C500 unit.<\/p>\n
On February 17, 2005 fermented feces could be smelled circulating through the C400 unit. A
\n large quantity of liquefied feces was found running out of the ventilation shaft in cell C401 where
\n Tinker is housed. The entire unit could hear guards R. Boyd, Wright, McCowan, and sgt. J. Mahan
\n taunting Tinker that he\u2019d gotten what he\u2019d deserved for writing statements against them. (About abuses
\n in C500 unit.) They admitted having placed him into C401 under a protective custody inmate, who is
\n used by them to antagonize other prisoners \u2013 the ventilation shaft runs directly form upstairs in that
\n prisoners\u2019 cell into Tinker\u2019s. They admitted knowing that the feces had been poured into the vent from
\n above Tinker\u2019s cell, but wrote Tinker a disciplinary report saying that he\u2019d done it to keep him in that
\n cell subject to having feces poured into his vent routinely.<\/p>\n
\nThe same abuses previously described in my prior expose and supplement continue. And those
\nabuses I\u2019ve reported on are principally those occurring in ROSP\u2019s C-building. This says nothing for what\u2019s likely occurring also in the other three ROSP A, B and D buildings which I have no access to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a second addendum to an article I circulated on October 26 and 31, 2004 and supplemented on January 1, 2005, entitled \u201cRed Onion State Prison: an Expose \u2013 Racim and Brutality Equals Kind and Usual Punishment in Virginia.\u201d That article and January 1st supplement described continuous brutal and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-red-onion-state-prison-conditionsnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":953,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions\/953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}