Virginia prison considered charging inmates who burned themselves in protest for ‘intolerable’ conditions
Virginia prison considered charging inmates who burned themselves in protest for ‘intolerable’ conditions
One official from Red Onion State Prison suggested charging the inmates for their hospitalization, while another suggested prosecuting them for setting fires in their cells.
Summary
Inmates at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison set themselves on fire in 2024 to protest alleged abuse, solitary confinement, and lack of medical care.
Emails reveal prison staff discussed charging the inmates for their medical treatment and prosecuting them for arson.
Advocacy groups and former inmates have long criticized the prison for excessive solitary confinement, abuse, and retaliation.
The Virginia Department of Corrections denies wrongdoing but faces lawsuits and a pending ombudsman investigation into prison conditions.
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Far far far from a new problem with Virginia prisons. Red Onion "was the model for and is practically identical to Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone Gap" which had this documentary film made about it that documents all sorts of abuse and awful stuff.
Oh, and one of the principal planners of this system ended up getting hired by the federal government to consult on prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003, prisons which ultimately ended up including Abu Ghraib.