VIRGINIA GOVERNOR GLENN YOUNGKIN VETOED AND VETOED 2024 LEGISLATIVE SESSION PRISON REFORMS THEN HE SIGNED INTO LAW A PRISON "OVERSIGHT" OMBUDSMAN, MAKES ME WONDER, IT MUST BE TOOTHLESS By William Thorpe

The State of Virginia has a peculiar way with laws, thats purely insidious. So in 1848, when Virginia was an out and out savagely unapologetic, slave holding State, the all White male legislature passed an anti abortion law, which read "Any free person who shall administer to any pregnant woman, any medicine, drug or substance whatever, or use or employ any instrument or other means....."(blah,blah blah)...what I want you the reader to pay attention to is the text of the law, it reads, "Any free person...."now in 1848 Virginia legally recognized two types of Virginians, Free and unfree, the unfree were enslaved Black people and White indentured servants. So when those White male legislators, qualified their purported anti-abortion position with, "Any Free person....."they were deliberately and insidiously giving their Women a way out and also saving themselves means to abort the evidence from their rape of enslaved Black Women, because a enslaved or indentured person with expertise and know how, could now within the letter of the law induce and perform abortion, because the "Any Free person....."qualifier didn't apply. Oh by the way, Virginia was the only State to assert such abortion qualifier, even Territorial Arizona, with its 1865 abortion law (which on its resurrection by its 2024 Supreme Court, has violently reminded people how casually and cavalierly backwards laws can rule again, when the politics is a regression to 1865) didn't have such a qualifier. Now fast forward to Virginia politics in 2024, where there isn't any denial, the Virginia tax payer are fatigued but not deluded over stories after story in main stream media exposing the unfathomable and unimaginable behavior of the Virginia prison official under The Virginia Department of Corrections all under guise of Virginia's Justice Infrastructure. In response to the systemic law breaking and impunity of the Virginia prison official is the natural push towards holding the offending prison official accountable, because say what you will about the status quo's impulse and imperative to maintain its supremacy and rule by keeping the workings and machinery of governance and government as shibboleth and conniving, The People despite it all, know and can smell it, even if they can't articulate it and at times even support and defend its corruption. Mothers, Wives, Families, friends of the Virginia prisoner along with in principle Victims of crime, have consistently pushed for accountability of the Virginia prison official under equality of law. Which brings us to Governor Glenn Youngkin in 2024, recently signing HB 555, prison oversight ombudsman into law. What the advocacy for the oversight ombudsman ignored and jettisoned, thereby allowing Governor Glenn Youngkin the frame of signing a pseudo accountability law is, what the Virginia prisoner needs the most is a verifiable complaint and grievance filing process, because the point and tip of the prison officials impunity is the absolute control over, the grievance filing process, which is legally required for the American prisoner to access both State and Federal Courts. The ombudsman law signed by Glenn Youngkin, will not inhibit the prison official from playing games with and lying about a prisoner accessing the grievance process and if anyone is serious about holding the prison official accountable, demand a verifiable grievance process.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

PETA Was Loud, Vociferous And Aggressive When Michael Vick Was Accused Of Abusing Dogs. Well The Virginia Department Of Corrections Is Accused Of Worse By William Thorpe

Credit William Thorpe

In response to the recent news, that a Virginia prisoner had stabbed a prison dog, PETA said and I paraphrase, something to the effect that Virginia prison officials should protect their dogs. No one will argue against caring for and protecting, not only dogs but the responsibility of owning pets and animals in general. PETA, does good work but that doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't at times become transiently idealistic and this is one of those times where it has. This alleged dog stabbing incident isn't one of those "if Mohammed can't go to the mountain, then the mountain will come to Mohammed" aphorisms, where someone is just hell bent on harming a dog. For too long our leaders have played that three card Monte game of, who is responsible, who is accountable, what does transparency within the formulation and application of governance and governing mean and the reality is its all enabled and permitted by complicity and as it relates to the issue of a Virginia prisoner harming a prison dog, while in prison, PETA is complicit. For whatever reasons certain Virginia prison officials have decided that it made perfect sense to introduce rabid attack dogs inside the self contained and highly structured-controlled environment of the Virginia prison. Secondly according to Virginia prison operating procedure and policies those dogs would be unleashed on prisoners confined in closet sized cells, outside exercise cages and the floor of prison housing for any number of reasons and even when the deployment of the dog violated the prison and Departments operating procedure, the office of The Attorney General of Virginia would find a way to justify and defend the use despite the violation. Now PETA is well aware that The Virginia Department of Corrections uses dogs inside the confines of its prisons, against prisoners, not only as perimeter patrols of the prisons, but inside the prison, as I've already indicated even inside cells, on prisoners held in the cells. As such PETA with its singular focus on the abuse of dogs should've anticipated that deploying dogs on prisoners held in cells was a recipe for disaster along with the added fact that a majority of the prisoners those prison dogs would confront are Black people, considering Virginia's racist history of using attack dogs on and against. The point is PETA is yet to challenge the Virginia prison officials logic on use of dogs inside prisons. Just because an unelected person, engaged in one of the human conditions most speculative endeavor, that of running a prison summarily decides to dictate governmental action, that of using attack dogs on prisoners whose flesh are ripped by the drooling and snarling fangs of those dogs, shouldn't be of limits to interrogations by PETA. Michael Vick experienced to the fullest PETA's ability to exact accountability, well The Virginia Department of Corrections is worse.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

THE POLITICS OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND OVERSIGHT OF THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS HAS EVERYTHING TO LEARN FROM THE SCHOLARSHIP OF NICOLE HANNAH JONES: HONESTY By William Thorpe

Awright, Nicole Hannah Jones isn't the first to remind us that, the colloquial, in the beginning was the word is all about, Honesty, which is what her 1619 PROJECT scholarship, unapologetically was. Despite and in spite of reaction and its revisionism, Nicole Hannah Jones simply reasserted what any elementary student of dialectics honestly understands, save for former President and adjudged rapist, Donald Trump, that American Freedom is built on the chattel enslavement and oppression of Black people and The 1619 Project simply gave us its Honesty. The Virginia Department Of Corrections more than any other American institution is legatee to those fundamental antecedents illuminated by the scholarship of The 1619 Project, consequently any and all reform efforts of its governance has to, needless I add, be honest. However and I will show that such isn't the case and the politics of accountability and oversight of Virginia's justice infrastructure and its prison system, is corrupt. During this 2024 Virginia legislative session all sorts of justice and prison reform bills were tirelessly pursued, which most were vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin. One of the bills and its veto-demise, dealt with The Virginia Department Of Corrections use of solitary confinement, thereby exposing the corruption of the legislative system. Government, regardless of its Machiavellian impulses has to contend with honesty as the adage, the devil is in the details, requires. In otherwords, Government can lie to us, the people (because there are a lot the people or the public doesn't have a need to know) but it cannot and shouldn't lie to itself. Yet that is exactly what the executive branch of Virginia's Government, per The Office Of The Attorney General Of The Commonwealth Of Virginia done over the potential solitary confinement in Virginia prisons reform law that was vetoed. Virginia's Attorney General inexplicably presented dishonest arguments against reforming, the use of solitary confinement by The Virginia Department of Corrections, by contending that Virginia's use of solitary confinement is currently being challenged in federal courts as such the legislature, shouldn't legislate its reform. Now here is why the argument not only was wrong, but it was corrupt. The Attorney General knew and was well aware that Courts had encountered over and over the issue of solitary confinement in Virginia's prison system and had relatively ruled, that it was unconstitutional and a violation of law. See Smith v. Collins 964 F.3d 260 (2020),Lee v.Va .Dept.of Corr. 2020 U.S Dist. Lexis 231921, Porter v. Clarke 923 F.3d 348 (2019), Rivera v. Mathena 795 Fed.Appx.169 (2019), Reyes v. Clarke 2019 U.S Dist. Lexis 150854.These cases, all dealing with solitary confinement are just a drop in the flood of 4th Circuit rulings, of which Virginia is under jurisdiction and The Attorney General not only was well aware, but way back in the late 1800's,The Supreme Court of The United States had already determined that solitary confinement was (and I paraphrase) detrimental to the prisoner driving him insane. A government is obligated to secure what is conducive to the life of its people including prisoners, particularly prisoners, but what we see is Attorney General of The Commonwealth of Virginia Jason Miyares, betraying it, under the specious logic of ongoing adjudication of an obvious evil.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

LAW AND ORDER IN VIRGINIA HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH JUSTICE By William Thorpe

Once again reactionary Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has the ear of Governor Glenn Youngkin in true puppet master fashion as he pursues his guile ambition of succeeding Youngkin, in that tiredly exploited law and order gambit. What the classic adage about "imitation" evidenced by Jason Miyares, law and order gambit conveniently omits and doesn't say is, it induces feeble mindlessness, because that's what virulently ails Attorney General Miyares by his consuming and singular focus of travestying, that most basic and minimal idea of 'Justice' in Virginia, that of rehabilitation. Only a megalomaniac, Nah a crass idealist would presume justice absolutism, as positive governance, because that is exactly what Attorney General Miyares has doggedly exhibited with his manic opposition to one of the most minimalist and low hanging fruit affirmations of justice, Earned Sentence Credits for the Virginia prisoner as pursued by certain practical Virginia Democrats who understand that if incentives are a primary motive force for Virginia's political-economy and its capitalism, as constructor and architect of the Virginia personhood and the Virginia voter, who voted for it, then applying that same incentive dynamic rehabilitatively as function of Virginia's justice system is positive governance. Okay,this is what Attorney General Jason Miyares, is demonstrating that he's incapable of grasping, which is the human condition is speculative, as defined by "freewill".Therefore under the governance logic all "reforms" are speculatively positive as such opposition is in principle reactionary and philistine. Virginians voted for much necessary and serious reforms of The Justice and Prison system which in 2020, Democrats to a degree delivered by revising aspects of prison sentence mitigative credits, specifically, The Earned Sentence Credits, which as a tool would incentivize prisoner rehabilitation by release from prison. In 2021, Republicans gained control of part of Virginia government and their initial acts were to scapegoat prisoners, rehabilitation and the incentivized reforms of the system by scaling back the reforms. Which The Virginia Supreme Court upbraided Attorney General Jason Miyares over the offices presented theories attacking The Earned Sentence Credit rehabilitation incentive. Now here we go, that with this 2024 legislative session, we again find Attorney General Miyares, intoxicated by his ambition and under its idealistic influence petulantly scheming to undermine prisoner rehabilitation by opposing the earned sentence credits incentive. Jason Miyares has exploited the worst of human behavior from the few to advance the short sightedness of his ambition and we don't indict him for it, because such is human nature, history is replete with it, our work however is to expose its antithetical staleness.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

ONE OF THE INSIDIOUS AND UNDEMOCRATIC WAYS VIRGINIA'S LEGISLATURE HAS CEDED THE DEMOCRATIC WILL AND RULE OF LAW TO THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS.... By William Thorpe

When government doesn't want to do something or when government isn't guided by the common sense of knowledge and understanding, but instead expresses the amorphous, "values", which is euphemism for the illiteracy of zealotry and ideological dogma as guide, it gives us that maxim, 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely', revealing that natural human propensity towards corruption. What I mean by corruption is this, the Virginia legislature has a clear understanding of its purpose and function, just as individuals we have ours and when we undermine it, that is corruption, because we have deliberately impeded the intent of function and that is what the Virginia legislature has done with its purpose and function relative to (as it concerns this work) The Virginia Department of Corrections by imposing conditions on its legislative ability to reform The Department by permitting veto of the reform through the trick of having The Department "approve" of the reform under the logic that it doesn't increase or add on to the Department's budget. Prisoners are imprisoned because of court or legal process of a conviction of violating a criminal statute which in most cases has nothing to do with the character of the convicted prisoner. But corruption is squarely an indictment of character, it sabotages humanness, it kills the essence of the human condition, by specifically betraying intrinsic "faith" in Virginia society and its Social Contract. Because as "We The People "we see through the tricks and gambits executed by our leaders pursuing the double standard of law and how others, as in this case the prison official, being above it and no amount of scapegoating the prisoner can conceal the fact, to quote George Orwell in Animal Farm, "some animals are more equal than others" as truism undermining the rule of law and no amount of the cruelty of state organized violence redeems the betrayal of social trust and the Virginia status quo understands it even more comprehensively than I can state it. What the Virginia status quo has settled on is the logic of cost benefit analysis. In other words, if governance is simply reduced to maintaining control. Then it doesn't make sense to invest in The People. Corruption thrives in the absence of scrutiny and that is what the Virginia legislature has bet on. That as it concerns prison issues no one cares, which speaks to the ignorance of our legislature, because as any cursory study of the human condition will show, justice and its perversion, its corruption has always expedited reform on the reluctant status quo. See, The Bastille prison of France which was relatively vacant of prisoners yet it has become an embodying symbol of injustice, a corruption of justice and The Social Contract and a reminder that the logic of the cost benefit analysis is always indictment.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

WHAT "TOUGH ON CRIME" THE AMERICAN PRISONER FROM MAINE TO HAWAII, FROM TEXAS TO ALASKA IS SENTENCED TO OVER A BILLION YEARS, OH YOU DIDNT KNOW THAT By William Thorpe

As the finger pointing and pseudo criticism goes urban spaces are crime riddled, because of liberal politics, that coddles and the prescription is unimaginable prison sentences. Three strike laws enacted and dispensed at Liberal bastions as California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, hell even Pennsylvania right and our Conservative brethren the likes of Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina illiterated by their hypocrisy, talk the tough on crime, hating China while dispensing Chinese numbers to those caught in the spiders web of their justice industries as response to "crime". So what we have across our Nation are humans sentenced to what can only be understood as galactic light years, yup American prisoners who excusably have no clue to the relative existence of The Big Bang serving sentences that are just as incomprehensible as the calculated travelling distance of immortal light. I'm talking about Billions of years, dispensed to the convicted, to which opportunists in pursuit of speculative political power claim are liberal coddling of "criminals". In conclusion, that red dwarf star we call our Sun, will supernova and incinerate this Blue, sphere like object we call planet Earth our home (which to emphasize is BLUE, to all you red States) before the American prisoner will complete the billions of years imposed as justice. So the next time another long nosed, shiny faced, with fingers crossed behind their back tells you, that crime is a result of a lack of long prison sentences ask them, how many years has it taken light from the Big Bang to reach us. So why then are prisoners doing its miles in years.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

THE VIRGINIA PRISON OFFICIAL IS A LAW BREAKING MACHINE AND THE BLAME LIES WITH VIRGINIA'S GOVERNOR GLENN YOUNGKIN, VIRGINIA'S ATTORNEY GENERAL JASON MIYARES, SPEAKER OF VIRGINIA'S HOUSE DON SCOTT, MAJORITY LEADER OF VIRGINIA'S SENATE SCOTT SUROVELL AND JUDGES OF VIRGINIA STATE AND UNITED STATES COURTS OF THE FOURTH CIRCUIT By William Thorpe

Recently Kimberly Zittlow honored us with her work indicting The Virginia Department Of Corrections as a corrupt entity. Now if The Executive of The Commonwealth of Virginia, currently personified by Governor Glenn Youngkin under whose authority The Virginia Department of Corrections and its prison official functions according to Virginia Constitutional and Statutory authorities exercised his governing prerogatives practically under the insightful integrity of perfecting and redeeming the Social Contract and not as a petty expression of colloquial ideological reinventions of the proverbial wheel. The Commonwealth won't consistently find itself (maybe I should indulge and use the formal and conventional "HER", but nah, which I'm sure the Jeffersonian nod to the Jacobins has already made my arguments) in Court rooms defending claims of prison official savagery and barbarity by the Virginia prisoner and family. Speaker Don Scott of The Virginia House and Majority Leader of The Virginia Senate, Scott Surovell both have total and comprehensive authority to call to account the Virginia prison officials law breaking behavior and also that of principally telling the Virginia citizenry that, despite its existence, it is at odds with The Social Contract and its anticipations. The integrity of a society contrary to, its in itself enabling complicity with the feudalistic political-economic presumption isn't dependent on the cruelty of the pacifying organized violence of its policing powers, instead as we are presently encountering with the gratuitous abuse of the Virginia prisoner, In other words this contemporary duty that is now appearing in the incarnated ask of calling to account prison official impunity, by Governor Glenn Youngkin, Speaker Don Scott and Majority Leader Scott Surovell is a link in the historic continuum of Virginia's antebellum delusions that despite fracturing into the idealistic foray of Civil War rebellion has always existed pulsing for it's resolving governance courage. We don't indict the inherent necessary hypocrisy of Virginia's governance. But what we state is a rejection of that corrupt thinking that demands that we as a people (the relative free and the imprisoned) have to behave as if we are under the flute like fraudulent influence of the snake charmer unable to and unwilling to say, that the cobra swaying to the flutist isn't hearing anything especially those discordant notes and is only moving to the sly swaying of the flutist huckster. I list a number of court cases by Virginia prisoners struggling to expose the savagery and barbarity of the Virginia prison official which Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares office had to defend, meaning deny. CARTER V. ELY 2024 U.S DIST. LEXIS 38334, DEFOUR V. WHITE 2024 U.S DIST. LEXIS 56423, BALTAS V. MAIGA 2020 U.S DIST. LEXIS 198290. As you study the above cases remember that the offenders are Virginia prison officials. It isn't complicated, if Governor Youngkin accepts that no one is above law, tell Virginians that.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

WOULD YOU RATHER BE THE EXTREMIST ARCH-CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES CLARENCE THOMAS OR A STREET LEVEL DRUG DEALER? By William Thorpe

Clarence Thomas and the history he labors in its defense, support and maintenance will say how dare the contrast and I get it, because the supposition is, its beyond reproach right?, Despite the glaring contradiction that, wasn't the American Revolution all about reproach and without us ,"We The People", our buy into the presumptions permitting the umbrage, there is no Supreme Court, no distinction of The Drug Dealer, no Society, no aggregate requiring laws, no politics, no supposed jurisprudential objectivity on which a Clarence Thomas can fume and shake his jowls at the juxtaposition. I chose the contrast of the street level Drug Dealer to not just the position of associate justice of The Supreme Court, but specifically and purposefully Clarence Thomas. Because Clarence Thomas presents a contemporary caricature of data point of our supposed sacrosanct Social Contract that allows and permits the most dense and sly of us, to see for themselves it's ludicrous antagonisms and deprive them of apology. If you've never read and studied Clarence Thomas court writings, I ask you do. If you've never heard him talk (yup he can) please do. What you'll encounter is classic conceit and deceit. Conceit and deceit are normal aspects of humanness. But when wielded by petty tyranny, (which is what all state functionaries are) it becomes oppressive. Recently a number of journalistic works have revealed and exposed Clarence Thomas as nothing more than a sophisticated panhandler, a gift acceptor from the extremely monied of The Social Contract even as his court writings has shown animus for such social relations. The political narrative supporting the Clarence Thomas contradiction would have us accept him as paragon of the American ethos in opposition to the recalcitrant existence of The Drug Dealer, whom as the narrative declares exemplifies the organic dysfunction of the drug dealer's environment due to governmental policies, identical to and imitative of the panhandler or, specifically "welfare".No, stay with me, don't pick your mouth of the floor yet, because that's just a fraction of the irony. Clarence Thomas who we're told is paragon of masculinity is extolled as a wholesome contrast to the deviance and criminality of the drug dealer, despite the fact that he's relatively a dependent of the Texas billionaire Harlan Crow, who supports his, familial manly responsibilities and not to ignore the spectacle of a grown man accepting gifts from another man, an occurrence even the most green and naive prisoner understands to reject, because just as the road to hell is paved with good intentions, gifts come with strings.

Okay so I've contrasted, the behavior of the acceptor of gifts and sophisticated panhandler, Clarence Thomas with the most green and naive generic American prisoner, because as associate justice of The Supreme Court of The United States, Clarence Thomas has been on an idealistic and inane crusade against the American prisoner, deploying the most absurd of reasoning in his proclamations on prison and prisoner related cases and issues and if his most reviled, the American prisoner, understands the inherent corruption of accepting gifts, then on what standing and judgement is Clarence Thomas exercising with his industrial like singularity of gift acceptance?. Conservatism as thought and world view is idealistic. Its premise is simple it defends a or the status quo, as such its operative is hypocrisy, inconsistency, impunity and dictatorial, above the law presumptions, in one word conservatism corrupts. Contrasting the behavior of the street level drug dealer with the behavior of a Clarence Thomas, which means a rejection and repudiation of the ludicrous narrative that the behavior of a grown man Clarence Thomas existing, living and subsisting on the handouts of a Texas billionaire Harlan Crow is socially superior to the underground entrepreneurial labors of the street level drug dealer, exposes the conservative inconsistency and it allows us to encounter its corruption comprehensively. If fundamentally, the purpose and function of conservatism and its thought is to maintain the status quo, then it isn't paradoxical that we find Clarence Thomas a la Jabba The Hut, affirming it. Despite the anticipation of our genus, Homo sapiens, we don't know it all, nor does potential mean access. As such the elevation of those who lead us, those who exercise police powers over us, those who dictate and impose perspective on us, must be and has to be within the accountability of affirmative practicality. A fact of our humanness and condition that hasn't been distorted and victimized by the controlling mechanism of confusing us with the perpetual ploy of rediscovering the wheel, is the acceptance as fact, that we are social beings and this is borne out by our primary interaction of trade or buying and selling. So with this as the affirmative of socialization and evidenced as corporations being legally described as persons by Clarence Thomas and his conservative stooges. The act of buying and selling as expression of human value then reveals the corruption of the gift acceptor.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

Understanding Corruption within the VADOC and its Impact By Kimberly Zittlow

It’s become quite clear that widespread corruption within the Virginia Department of Corrections is pervasive and deeply entrenched, with systemic issues, abuse of power, and a culture of hostility all playing significant roles. Addressing these issues requires a concerted effort to root out corruption, strengthen oversight mechanisms, and hold accountable those responsible for misconduct.

Systemic Rot: Corruption within the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) is deeply ingrained within its structures and practices. This corruption involves various forms of misconduct and abuse of power.

Exploitation of Power: The hierarchical nature of this correctional administration and its facilities provides ample opportunity for those in positions of authority to exploit their power. This exploitation can manifest in the mistreatment of inmates, favoritism, and the use of inmates as pawns in power struggles.

Culture of Abuse: In environments where corruption is rampant, a culture of abuse and hostility flourishes. This culture normalizes unethical behavior and discourages whistleblowing or reporting of misconduct.

Lack of Oversight: Without effective oversight mechanisms, corruption thrives unchecked within VADOC. Lack of transparency and accountability allows corrupt practices to go undetected or ignored.

Institutionalized Vindictiveness: In many cases, VADOC exhibits a vindictive attitude towards inmates and their loved ones. This vindictiveness is then used as a tool to maintain control and suppress dissent, further exacerbating the corrupt nature of the system.

External Influences: External factors such as political interference or pressure from special interest groups also contribute to corruption within VADOC. These influences undermine efforts to combat corruption and perpetuates a cycle of misconduct.

Collusion and Cover-ups: Corrupt individuals within VADOC often collude with each other to conceal their misconduct and to protect their interests. This collusion can extend beyond individual staff members to include entire departments or units within the organization. Cover-ups of corruption further erode trust in the institution and hinder efforts to hold wrongdoers accountable.

Fear of Retaliation: In a corrupt environment, whistleblowers or those who speak out against misconduct may face retaliation or threats to their safety. This fear of reprisal can silence potential whistleblowers and perpetuate a culture of secrecy and impunity within VADOC.

Impact on Inmates and Families: The pervasive corruption within VADOC has serious consequences for inmates and their loved ones. In addition to facing mistreatment and abuse, inmates are unfairly disadvantaged in terms of access to resources, legal representation, and opportunities for rehabilitation. Families of inmates may also suffer emotional and financial hardship as a result of corrupt practices within the correctional system.

Undermining Trust and Confidence: Corruption within VADOC undermines public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system as a whole. When those responsible for upholding the law engage in corrupt behavior, it erodes faith in the fairness and integrity of the justice system, leading to disillusionment and skepticism among the general public.

Addressing corruption within VADOC requires comprehensive reform efforts aimed at tackling underlying systemic issues, strengthening accountability mechanisms, and promoting a culture of transparency and ethical conduct. Without meaningful reform, corruption will continue to undermine the mission of VADOC and perpetuate injustice within the correctional system.

In summary, corruption within the Virginia Department of Corrections is pervasive and deeply entrenched, with systemic issues, abuse of power, and a culture of hostility all playing significant roles. Addressing these issues requires a concerted effort to root out corruption, strengthen oversight mechanisms, and hold accountable those responsible for misconduct.

In Solidarity,

Kimberly Zittlow 

PUBLIC SAFETY IS THE LAST EUPHEMISTIC REFUGE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF REACTION By William Thorpe

Virginia Politics and its Political-Economy, advances on and is based on two imperatives (1) Exploitation and (2) Domination. The purpose and historical-reason for Virginia as Colony was to garner wealth for its investors by exploiting its heralded resources. To accomplish the exploitation, the environment had to be dominated or controlled meaning Public Safety. Let us fast forward to Governor Glenn Youngkin's recent veto of a number of prison and criminal justice reform bills, under the sophistry and euphemistic excuse of Public Safety. The fact the bills made it to Governor Glenn Youngkin to summarily encounter the dictatorial reaction of his veto, was indicative enough of their significance to the Virginia voter who had stated, the want of the reforms, by laboring mightily to elect Democratic Representatives who would accomplish such, to which Youngkin spit in their collective faces with his veto. Only a scofflaw would ignore the fact, that Virginia's prison system, its Department of Corrections and the entire justice infrastructure demands and needs reform. Progress or Justice isn't a zero sum endeavor, where one value subjectively triumphs or wins over whatever is considered the other. Because were that the case, Virginia as Commonwealth, as entity wouldn't even exist, because its progress contrary to myth, which are no more than conventional lies hasn't been borne on any value, any morality save that of development and the interactive equitable space carved within the compelling tensions of its Social Contract struggles and that always requires the correcting honesty of reform. To dismiss this fact with veto, as Governor Youngkin indulged in, is and has always been the historical Achilles vulnerability of the dictator and its presumptions. There is nothing settled with Virginia's ideas of justice. There isn't any "Black Letter",anything, especially when the subjective of The Governor cannot and will not set aside arrogance and recognize that, if progress is development without monopolistic and farcical claims to ideological supremacy, then the only recognizable facts are what we know to be idealistic and impractical because of their failures, i.e Virginia Republicans in 1995 abolished parole as the end all to the instance of crime, yet in 2024 not only are we told that crime is the major issue, implying abolishing parole was a failure, but again, Republicans who claimed to know it all in 1995 with their parole stunt are again telling us they know better with veto of ideas that haven't even been tried. Therefore, the reformation of an impracticality is the pursuit of good governance,which is also a recognition of the adage, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome, which is what Governor Glenn Youngkin ask of us with his vetoes.What is striking and revelatory of the vetoes is the unapologeticness, because besides exploiting the Public Safety gambit,Youngkin makes no bones that his veto is ideological and it has nothing to do with what's in the developmental interest of Virginia.What's in the developmental interest of Virginia, what is progressive for Virginia is the recognized and practical honesty, that imprisoned Virginians whose condition, the vetoed reforms were intended to address will return to society and subjecting them to the gratuitous barbarism of Virginia's current imprisonment scheme is indefensible and cannot even be justified on the opportunity metric of cost benefit analysis.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

Put an End to Communication Deprivation By Kimberly Zittlow

Good afternoon,

Can someone within the VADOC PLEASE explain to me the value of taking the inmates' phones away from them for months, sometimes even years at a time? 

How in the world is destroying important relationships that provide positive support and reinforcement with loved ones helping anything or anybody?

All that you are doing is creating angry and emotionally deprived inmates and upset loved ones. Many will walk away and forget about the inmate after such prolonged absences of communication. Leaving the inmate with no viable affection, love or support with anybody meaningful outside of the prison walls.

This punishment tactic promotes a sense of abandonment and isolation that invariably translates to extremely violent outbursts. And for what? What exactly is the VADOC gaining from this practice?

A growing number of other states have put a stop to this barbaric practice for more forward thinking and obvious reasons. The only thing this action speaks of is cruelty and vindictiveness on the part of the Virginia Dept of Corrections towards both the inmates and their loved ones alike.

Based on what I know of this practice, the VADOC as a whole should really reconsider this barbaric practice and put an end to using communication deprivation as a torture and punishment tactic. It isn't working, nor has it ever worked to create anything positive for the inmate or the facility as a whole.

Just my 2 cents, spoken out of sheer frustration.

--

Sincerely,

Kimberly Zittlow 

YES, Sec.1985 (3) OF 42 USC OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1871, AKA THE KU KLUX KLAN ACT SHOULD BE USED TO HOLD THE VIRGINIA PRISON OFFICIAL ACCOUNTABLE..... by William Thorpe

The majority of imprisoned Virginians will return to society and the treatment experienced under the imprisonment conditions created by the Virginia prison official will henceforth determine and dictate the subsequent realized all around development of their humanness. I'm not speaking of the typical gibberish pablum super long handled ladle fed us by the idealistically delusional and insidiously inclined, support functionary of the status quo narrative laboring to assembly line like provide occupants for Virginia's prison cages. But what I want to focus on is the contradiction of Virginia's imprisonment premise. What I'll use to get the point across are the pillars of the Nations' and The Commonwealth of Virginias' Social Contract. Because the manner in which the prison official violates every aspect of it's very basis that even allows proximity with the prisoner is the fundamental problem or antagonism. In other words the people of and the Virginia tax payer cannot surrogately, through the prison official behave just as deviantly as the "convicted" and imprisoned while expecting "what"? Of the imprisoned, because as I will show with a listing of law suits by Virginia prisoners. The Virginia prison officials 'behavior during the performance of their duties is vilely antebellum old and savage that it is haplessly in violation of laws borne of the Nations most destructive and bloodletting war, The Civil War. Now, section 1985 of UNITED STATES LAW 42 USC is Titled, CONSPIRACY TO INTERFERE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS. Paragraph (3) of section 1985 states, DEPRIVING PERSONS OF RIGHTS OR PRIVILEGES. IF TWO OR MORE PERSONS IN ANY STATE OR TERRITORY CONSPIRE...and what the below listed cases will show is it's gratuitous violation by the Virginia prison official and I ask the reader to study the cases.

Vaughn v. Watts Dist. Lexis 51898. Tokley v.Ratliff 2007 U.S Dist. Lexis 24896. Davis v.Lester 156 F.Supp.2d 588. Barbee v. Anderson 2020 U.S Dist. Lexis 43133 Hessing v. Brunelle 2016 U.S Dist. Lexis 63026 Bennett v. Stirling 842 F.3d 319 Parker v. Proffit 1995 U.S Dist .Lexis 15941 Peyton v. Carico 2011 U.S Dist. Lexis 54243 Talbert v. Smith 2007 U.S Dist. Lexis 17108 Howard v. Stidham 2019 U.S Dist. Lexis 30704 Riddick v. Moore 2023 U.S Dist. Lexis 52822 Riddick v. Moore 2023 US Dist. Lexis 55162 Delk v. Moran 2018 U.S Dist. Lexis 50534 McCurdy v. Va.Dept.of Corr.2017 U.S Dist. Lexis 142788 Smith v. Ely 2015 U.S Dist .Lexis 175360 Farrakhan v. Johnson 2009 U.S Dist. Lexis 40342 Woodhouse v. Duncan 2018 U.S Dist. Lexis 53332 Woodhouse v. 2017U.S Dist. Lexis 211528 McCoy v. Young 2012 U.S Dist. Lexis 71547 The above are examples of the Virginia prison official's racist animus, using "nigger" while assaulting, threatening prisoners, which is element for a violation of 1985 (3) of 42 USC.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit

"LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS "......WITHOUT JUSTIFIABLE EXECUTABLES IS CORRUPTION AND IT IS CORRUPT..... by William Thorpe

Recently Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed a solitary confinement reform bill, that at least would've instructed Chadwick Dotson, Director of The Virginia Department of Correction, that the Machiavellian, "end justifies the means" isn't welcome in modern Virginia governance, which The Department's operations is aspect. Corruption has a couple of expressions (1) Diabolic (2) Fatuous, and regardless of expression, the result/consequence is barbarism. As inexplicably late or early as 1890, in In Re Medley,134 US 160 The Supreme Court of The United States found that, solitary confinement drove prisoners "after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition from which it was next to impossible to arouse them, and others became violently insane others,still, committed suicide while those who stood the ordeal better were not generally reformed, and in most cases, did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of any subsequent service to the community". THEN in 1988 The 7th Circuit, U.S Court of Appeals found in Davenport v. Derobertis 844 F.2d 1310 "That isolating a human being from other human beings year after year or even month after month can cause substantial psychological damage, even if the isolation isn't total". THEN in 1995 The U.S District Court for The Northern District of California in Madrid v. Gomez 889 F.Supp.1146, found that "Subjecting individuals to conditions [solitary confinement] that are "very likely "to render them psychotic or otherwise exacerbate a serious mental illness cannot be squared with evolving standards of humanity and decency.....A risk this grave---this shocking and indecent---simply has no place in civilized society". THEN in 2005 in Amicus filed by a group of Psychologist and Psychiatrist in a case before The Supreme Court of The United States, Wilkinson v. Austin #04-495 also 545 U.S 209 stated "No study of the effects of solitary or supermax-like confinement that lasted longer than 60 days failed to find evidence of negative psychological effects". THEN in 2015 in Incumaa v. Stirling 791F.3d 517, The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled" [Prisoner] had liberty interest in avoiding solitary confinement in security detention. The 4th Circuit, which Governor Youngkin is well aware, speaks the Supremacy of U.S law for The Commonwealth. THEN in 2019 in Porter v. Clarke 923 F.3d 348, The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals held," Solitary confinement posed an objective risk of serious psychological and emotional harm to inmate". THEN in 2022 in Thorpe v. Clarke 37 F.4th 926, The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled "Severe isolation alone can deprive prisoners of the minimal civilized measures of life necessities, violating The 8th Amendment", [ibid] Wall v. Clarke 2023 U.S Dist. Lexis 58937, [ibid] Carter v. Ely 2024 U.S Dist. Lexis 38334.To put it bluntly, Governor Youngkin's veto of the solitary confinement bill doesn't comport with the hard gleaned realizations exemplified by, the over a hundred years of criticism of the practice as illustrated by the above listed authorities. A primary function of The Executive, which Youngkin as Governor is, is illustrative and illuminating governance and such isn't achieved by enabling and defending the barbaric practice of solitary confinement in the prisons that literally inculcates insanity, suicides and imbecility to paraphrase The Supreme Court of The United States. Bad governance is an expression of corruption

Whether Governor Glenn Youngkins' veto of the solitary confinement reform bill was diabolic or fatuous is an idealistic exercise in intellectual indulgence that distracts from the one and only relevant fact, it was deleterious on Virginias' social contract, by adding on and compounding the inherent corruption, which the aspirational logic of Government claims amelioration. I list here reference examples of law suits filed by Virginia prisoners held in solitary confinement at Red Onion State Prison attempting to petition Government and seek redress of the extra-judicial nature of the detention, which the vetoed bill was intended to reform and correctly prohibit. These law suit examples are just a bit showing of the dirty laundry, rotten underbelly, fetid corruption Governor Glenn Youngkin's veto feebly attempts to conceal. CARTER V. ELY 2024 U.S DIST.LEXIS 38334 HOEHN V. GIBSON 2024 U.S DIST.LEXIS 41087 REID V. CORIZON HEALTH SERV.2024 U.S DIST.LEXIS 38333 CARTER V. STITH 2024 U.S DIST.LEXIS 22032 ARRINGTON V. MULLINS 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 183703 WILLIAMS V. GILBERT 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 126015 GODFREY V. DAVIS 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 108421 CARTER V. ELY 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 79927 WARD V. KISER 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 41663 JONES V. WHITE 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 186345 GRAY V. ENGLISH 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 27282 CARTER V. COLLINS 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 99160 CARTER V. KISER 2023 U.S DIST.LEXIS 6655 WALKER V. KISER 2022 U.S DIST.LEXIS 56878 DURAN V. HOOVER 2022 U.S DIST.LEXIS 196931 WALL V. CLARKE 2021 U.S DIST.LEXIS 224916 ALEXANDER V. COLLINS 2021 U.S DIST.LEXIS 75805 GEORGE V. PUCKETT 2021 U.S DIST. LEXIS 30899 EDWARDS V. KANODE 2020 U.S DIST.LEXIS 41300 LEE V. VA. DEPT. OF CORR. 2020 U.S DIST.LEXIS 231921 BARBEE V. ANDERSON 2020 U.S DIST.LEXIS 43133 JORDAN V.MCDUFFIE 2020 U.S DIST.LEXIS 46318 JOHNS V. LOVELL 2020 U.S DIST.LEXIS 15922 FARABEE V. LEE 2019 U.S DIST.LEXIS 170179 REYES V. CLARKE 2019 U.S DIST.LEXIS 150854 RICHARDSON V .R O S P 2017 U.S DIST.LEXIS 119133 MAKDESSI V. CLARKE 2015 U.S DIST.LEXIS 152925 AWE V. R O S P 2014 U.S DIST.LEXIS 35448 ODIGHIZUWA V. STROUTH 2007 U.S DIST.LEXIS 28397 RIVERA V. MATHENA 795 FED.APPX.169 DEPAOLA V. VA.DEPT. OF CORR.703 FED.APPX. 205 STICKLAND V. HALSEY 638 FED.APPX.179 The above listed cases are just a drop in the bucket of efforts from prisoners who in no form or fashion are lawyers and needless I add, judges who the cases are presented to joyfully and gleefully take delight in dismissing them. Not because Virginia prison officials didn't for example assault the prisoner by slamming the prisoner's head onto the floor, or refuse to provide food, showers, outside exercise and all the this and that, which the prison official receives a pay check to perform as legal duty under contract to the Virginia citizenry which the fraudulent refusal then subsequently necessitates (and the failure to perform their legal obligation opens up that other can of worms, which is fraud, Yeah defrauding the Virginia tax payer, which is also theft) the filing of the law suit. What enables and maintains the above the law presumptions and behavior of the Virginia prison official are apologetic actions by leaders in Virginia's Government, Institutions, businesses, like the recent veto of reforming the unambiguous and unequivocal barbarism of solitary confinement by Governor Glenn Youngkin. I asked, by way of title to this work what exactly are the means and mechanisms anticipated by the myth enumerated in the National and Commonwealth's Constitution. Because Governor Youngkin has to explain to the people of Virginia on what basis is he endorsing the abrogation of the democracy of law.

When the Supreme Court of The United States made its critique of solitary confinement in the 1890 case, In Re Medley. Its efforts only spoke to effects of the practice of solitary confinement on its victims, the prisoners. The reality, however is corruption corrupts completely and solitary confinement is corruption. It is a corrupt set of relations impacting both points of the relation or interaction, meaning the prison official, subjective, regardless of the avail of the Nuremberg defense rationale, is also corrupted completely even as the imposition on the prisoner-object is the corrupt solitary confinement condition. Consequently the corruption expands to include and envelope all and whomever defends and apologizes for its practice and existence thereby also exposing that the operative of the solitary confinement practice is Government and Law undermining ITSELF under the guise of exercising the primacy of its police powers. Which brings us to the spectacle of Governor Glenn Youngkins' recent veto of reform of its use by The Virginia Department of Corrections. As the former Soviet dissident, Alexander Solzhenitsyn formulated and I paraphrase, lies and state organized violence go hand in hand, which true to form, we now see reflected in Glenn Youngkins' veto. The condition of solitary confinement is quintessential, State violence and if as the Supreme Court of The United States realized in 1890 that it drove prisoners insane, then it also means that its architects and practioners are just as and demonstrably insane, because they are the ones, which in this instance, the Virginia prison official, are subjecting, imposing and forcing a human being, the Virginia prisoner into a condition, a set of relations that causes insanity which is not, the least of all of the other effects that are not anticipated by and are at odds with Virginia law, yet that's what a Governor of Virginia by exercising the executive privilege of veto has supported and endorsed. The question, nonetheless, isn't whether The Commonwealth can subject prisoners to solitary confinement under due process of law, but whether its with the extreme recognition that solitary confinement is an extraordinary and barbaric state action and must be treated as such, with demanding and compelling focus on limits of use. Virginia's Justice Infrastructure of which the prison system is function is a fact of The Commonwealth's political-economy. To which it's fundamental purpose and primary focus is establishing and maintaining mechanisms for functioning control. This need for functioning control is what comes up against and is at odds with the application of the Social Contracts "equality under law", which like an unseen star in a binary star system revealing its existence by the behavior of its seen sister star, we experience as Government disregarding law as embodied by the prison official's barbaric use of solitary confinement and its thorough violation of law and the intrinsic integrity of governance and Government. The proof of this is, again, the exercise of veto powers by politicians, that betrays the progressive interest of society its people and the instinct of governance. There is distinction between corruption and criminal violation. While the Virginia prisoner is imprisoned as a result of criminal violation, the Virginia politician on the other hand in betraying governance is covered in corruption.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit