Virginia's Justice System and Freedom Of The Press

Our Prisons are filled to over capacity with accounts of significant and crucial stories that must be told. We bespeak of the refusal of journalists and media access to level 3 and higher levels in Virginia's correctional institutions.

Prisons more often than not hide on the back roads of our communities in rural America as a means for economic development, thus they normally lay outside the visible spectrum and are repressed by the vigilant eye of the press...We at vapac want to join those behind prison walls who may have been wrongly convicted by our criminal justice system which have been highlighted by the Innocence Project inadequate defense, eyewitness misidentification, incentive informants, government misconduct, false confessions or admissions. We join them and investigative journalists who seek truth with the ethical responsibility in highlighting this issue as with the recent effort: to record (audio, video) prisoners "fails" in Virginia. Yet all too often state, local government and prison officials seek out favorable media to disseminate their propaganda. While denying objective media of the inclusive means of audio and video that will permit a though recording of the account.


We at vapac do not profess to know of an individuals innocence or guilt, however, there are currently 2,252 exonerations with more than 19,790 years lost reported by the National Registry Of Exonerations. We think many of those are compromised by the unavailability of recording (audio, video)...which could play a significant role allowing full compass of investigative reporting by allowing unbiased journalists the ability to uncover the truth when there may be a miscarriage of justice.

We note here that the Virginia Department of Corrections [VADOC] doesn't unequivocally deny media access however they still sanction  ..Virginia's Justice system needs to end the block on the full range of media access and allow the Freedom Of The Press access Virginia prisoners to share their story.

By vapac

References

Innocence Project

Society of Professional Journalists

The National Registry Of Exonerations

State Media Access VADOC Operating Procedure 022.1

Editorial: Allow Recordings Of Prisoner Interviews (Virginian Pilot)
Effort to allow recording of inmate interviews flounders | Local News | dailyprogress.com