Virginia Prisons Accountability Committee: VIRGIN ISLAND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COVERTLY DELVES INTO STATESIDE VIRGINIA'S RED ONION STATE PRISON REPORT OF MALFEASANCE AND ABUSE

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

VIRGIN ISLAND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COVERTLY DELVES INTO STATESIDE VIRGINIA'S RED ONION STATE PRISON REPORT OF MALFEASANCE AND ABUSE

Editors Notes: We at "Virginia Prisons Accountability Committee" would like to thank the family of Prisoner Hector Ledesma for sharing their story with us. Mr. Ledesma has expressed he is now on St.Croix V.I his hometown prison, Golden Grove Correctional Facility and is still having problems mentally and to this day he has received no help and there are still V.I prisoners in Red Onion along with Wallens Ridge prisons in Virginia (quote) getting tortured and abused.

Virgin Island Justice Department covertly delves into Account of Stateside Prison Abuse proclaimed by Prisoner Hector Ledesma relating his experience of his imprisonment in isolation subsequent to being shipped to Virginia's Red Onion State Prison. Conditions at Red Onion have been the subject of an HBO Docu titled "Solitary" a narrative based on a prison on an Appalachian strip-mined mountaintop where the sights and sounds hints of infertile destruction alone are sufficient to set your skin creeping and your brain working in unbearable and painful ways where life is obvious and desolate, particularly in supermax prison, where prisoners are isolated 23 hours daily locked down in cells with no human contact. Other articles have been written in an array of media, Variety Magazine, and the Washington Post to name a couple.

Some articles portray the supermax as "Virginia's Worst of the Worst prison," intended to oversee prisoners who are especially risky or oppose discipline.

Ledesma served a part of his 13 years, 9-month term at Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility on St. Croix and Citrus County Detention Facility in Lecanto, Florida.

He was sentenced for aggravated rape at the age 18, accused of engaging in sexual relations with a 12-year-old minor on St. Croix. The punishment delivered to him in 2004 was 15 years with no parole.

Since then Ledesma has bid his case, based on changes in a witness testimony. But the appeal was rejected by the U.S. District Appellate Court in 2009 and also rejected upon review by the V.I. Superior Court in 2016. The alleged victim’s coerced testimony was apparently the only claimed evidence that was used to falsely and wrongfully convict Ledesma. We at vapac have been provided and given permission to share her recanted statements.

Another Virginia prison confining Virgin Islanders is Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. As per data shared on the web, Wallens Ridge was intentionally built to enable different states to mitigate prison overcrowding.

The Source a U.S. Virgin Island online-only newspaper since 1999 whom considers itself A trusted independent voice of the Virgin Islands community in a recent article reported: (quote)

Several days into an investigation into the living conditions of Virgin Islands prisoners, Attorney General Claude Walker said he had little to say about it. However, he admitted the probe began with the publishing of a letter from one of those prisoners. But because Walker chose to limit remarks about the off-island prisoners, it was hard to determine if the investigation will extend to the 202 V.I. inmates now serving time in Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia. In his letter, inmate Hector Ledesma recounted his placement in solitary confinement after being transferred to Red Onion State Prison. When asked when the inquiry began, Walker said, “a few weeks ago.”But the AG added few details after that.“I do not have anything to share with you at this time, as it in an investigation,” he said. The article went on to say the Bureau of Corrections Public Information Officer Irving Julian said there are 56 inmates in Virginia, 66 in Mississippi, 85 in Florida and one in South Carolina. The last group to leave the territory left after the passage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017. But Julian could not say how many inmates left in the 2017 group (unquote)

Attorney General Claude Walker confirmed to Virgin Islands Consortium another online news platform that The Department of Justice has launched a full investigation into the treatment of Virgin Islands prisoners being held in stateside prison facilities.

By vapac

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