A crowd rallies outside of the bell tower at Virginia’s Capitol on Jan. 8, 2025 to protest allegations of mistreatment of inmates and prolonged use of solitary confinement at Red Onion State Prison and Wallens Ridge State Prison. Charlotte Rene Woods Virginia Mercury
Roughly two months after Virginia’s Department of Corrections confirmed that six inmates at Red Onion State Prison had burned themselves by tampering with electrical outlets, advocates renewed calls for an overhaul of the facility on Wednesday outside of Virginia’s Capitol, as lawmakers prepare legislation to address some of the concerns shared by people incarcerated at the prison.
Virginia Department of Corrections confirm inmates burned themselves; lawmakers want investigation
The Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality shared statements on behalf of several prisoners, including Jason Barrett, whose account of his time in the facility included allegedly experiencing and witnessing abuse, prolonged use of solitary confinement and delayed medical care. Allegations of racism and religious discrimination have also surfaced.
“This place needs to be investigated. And if I can be of some help, I will be also,” Barrett wrote.
The Virginia Department of Corrections’ November confirmation of the inmate burnings followed months of allegations of abuse and poor living conditions at Red Onion and another facility, Wallens Ridge.
DOC director Chadwick Dotson attributed the self harm to mental health issues and characterized inmate complaints as attempts to be transferred to facilities closer to their hometowns.
“There’s no evidence whatsoever that there was any kind of a plot or a protest,” Dotson said at a Public Safety Committee meeting in December. “All the inmates involved said they did it because they wanted to get away from Red Onion. Two of these have a history of self-harm.”
But prison reform advocates and some lawmakers have said the inmates’ actions could signal “desperation,” Defenders member Anna Edwards said at the rally.
Red Onion resident Ekong Eshiet said in an audio recording released by Prison Radio, an organization that amplifies the voices of incarcerated people, that he is one of the inmates who burned himself. He relayed that he hoped it would trigger his transfer from the facility and said he had also protested his treatment through a hunger strike.
Eshiet described his situation as being “in fear for my life.”
He also expressed concerns about continued kiosk access through a message to The Mercury on JPay, an email service for incarcerated people. He wrote that the attention the prison has been receiving may lead to retaliation against people who speak out.
Kiosk access is something that has been revoked from Demetrius Wallace at times, the Defenders shared on his behalf at the rally. He was another of the men who burned themselves and said in a statement shared by The Defenders that his medical attention was delayed for days.
Lawmakers lean in
Concerned and curious, two state lawmakers have made treks to Red Onion from their faraway districts last year.
Del. Holly Seibold, D-Fairfax, visited over the summer after having learned about hunger strikes earlier in the year, while Del. Michael Jones, D-Richmond, dropped by this past December after learning that inmates had burned themselves.
“It was just disheartening to see the number of Richmonders in there,” he said in a call with The Mercury earlier this week.
At Wednesday’s rally, Jones said that he could have “held a town hall” at the prison with inmates who were from or near the district he formerly served as a Richmond City Council member.
He announced Wednesday that he is in the midst of drafting a bill that will call for Virginians to be sent to prisons no more than 75 miles away from their home locality — unless they have committed violence while incarcerated, justifying the need to stay for some time in the higher-security prison.
“No one in Richmond should end up in Red Onion off of a sentencing. The only ones that should go is if there is an issue of violence while they’re incarcerated,” he said.
The planned legislation would mean a smaller prison population size in supermax facilities like Red Onion or Wallens Ridge and that incarcerated people would be closer to their families and other support systems. Although the 2025 General Assembly session started Wednesday (and is in recess until Monday due to Richmond’s ongoing water emergency), Jones said his bill won’t be deliberated this year.
“It won’t be introduced this session because I want time to work on it,” Jones said.
With the 2025 session being a shorter legislative gathering (customary in odd-numbered years), lawmakers are limited on the amount of bills they can introduce. Jones will also be up for reelection later this year. Pending that outcome, he can introduce his bill then.
“We should not have full beds at Red Onion,” Jones said. The prison maintains a higher level of security than others; some inmates are sentenced to live there, while others are sent there following infractions that occur elsewhere.
“I want to seek a means that will ensure that as (inmates) go (to Red Onion or other supermax facilities), they are removed as soon as the punitive issues are dealt with, and they’re not there in perpetuity,” Jones said.
Seibold also would like the legislature to continue efforts to regulate use of solitary confinement. She noted how its prolonged use can alter a person’s mental health.
Solitary confinement is called “restorative housing” under Virginia law. In 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a law that requires people to receive a designated number of hours outside of their solitary cells each day. He then vetoed a subsequent proposal from 2024 that would have required regular mental health evaluations for sequestered inmates.
“Solitary confinement will damage even the most resilient of minds,” Seibold said. “I can’t even imagine myself being in there for more than a few days and being able to remain stable.”
She said some inmates she spoke with described loss of access to programs while confined away from the general population.
As to concerns of recidivism, Seibold wonders how much of a role solitary confinement can play in someone not feeling equipped to reintegrate into society. Full access to rehabilitative programs and educational programs are meant to help inmates prepare for non-incarcerated lives after release. But allegations of poor living conditions and lack of access could set people back, she noted.
“Do we want to release individuals who have been subjected to such conditions? Will they be equipped to reintegrate as healthy contributing members of society? Or are they going to return more damaged and disconnected than before — and then just return back to prison?” Seibold asked. “So these are some real questions that we need to be talking about, and some real changes that need to happen.”
Investigation on the horizon
While legislators plan to look at ways to tweak Virginia’s prison system, a state oversight body will be conducting an investigation into Red Onion in the future.
Virginia’s new corrections ombudsman to prioritize Red Onion prison probe
In December, Virginia’s newly-hired corrections ombudsman, Andrea Sapone, announced that she plans to look into the various allegations to ensure the health and safety of inmates. But first, she has to make five additional hires under her.
According to Maggie Sotos, a public relations officer with the Office of the Inspector General, Sappone’s team has four accepted offers and is working to fill the final position.
Aside from announcing a planned investigation last month, Sapone said her office plans to streamline complaint systems for incarcerated people and their families. Some people with loved ones behind bars expressed feeling “renewed hope” at the revelation, she said.
Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, a longtime inmate of Red Onion and Prison Radio contributor, remains skeptical.
He forwarded The Mercury a link to a recent post on a website he maintains noting that Sapone’s position operates within the state’s Office of the Inspector General — which he said “has done absolutely nothing to address mountains of abuse complaints coming out of Red Onion since it opened in 1998.”
Johnson also alleged that in violation of state law, prisoners in solitary confinement are not being permitted the four hours per day they are supposed to receive for congregate activity, when they can leave their solitary cells and be among other people. Johnson described people placed in a “dog-kennel style cage” or chained to a desk in another room.
“There is no recreation – congregate nor otherwise – in solitary confinement in Virginia’s prisons,” Johnson wrote. “But the state’s inspector general has been silent about all of this.”
Similar allegations are present within a Virginia American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against VADOC challenging its use of solitary confinement, which predates the self-harm reports. A trial date is pending on that case in which plaintiffs claim their restorative housing time only includes limited interaction with prison staff, and the time they get out of solitary cells is “often spent alone in a small outdoor cage.”
Seibold said on her Red Onion visit, she witnessed “a few of the people who were incarcerated in one of the solitary pods” who “just didn’t want to go outside anymore for the (recreational) time, and so they were shackled to a table.”
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