The Righteous Work of the Mennonite Church U.S.A.

We at vapac welcome Mennonite Church USA Criminal Justice Resolution passed at its May 2022 National Assembly

Declaring: Many aspects of the current United States Criminal legal system cause pain and suffering for many, especially poor people and people of color.

We at vapac also recognize that the Mennonite presence in the United states since the 18 century has consistently been conscientious without bending to opportunity. We are opstimistic.

by vapac

Harold Clarke, Director of Virginia Department of Corrections and the 54% By William Thorpe

 

Let's consider this on May 17, 2022 Harold Clarke, Director of Virginia Department of Corrections told the Virginia Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee that 54% of prisoners scheduled for release due to the Earned Sentence Credit law have a medium to high risk of violent recidivism.

• Fact Director of Virginia prisons claims 54% of to-be-released prisoners will violently re-offend.

Now Virginia Prisons Accountability Committee [vapac] is structured as an organizing medium to hold the Virginia Prison official accountable and that no one is above the law and there cannot be accountability without, first an understanding of the system of Government in Virginia.

So for example when Harold Clarke as Director of Virginia's prisons testifies before politicians whom we elected, that 54% of our family, loved ones and friends will violently re-offend when released. There is only one conclusion to be drawn. That in Harold Clarke's formulations, prisoners who are our loved ones, despite what a law says that they have earned their release must be denied the release. Because in his omniscient and wanna-be Ceasar judgment they are unfit for society and is also a revelation of his animus towards prisoners and as VAPAC we hold him accountable. Further, his 54% violent recidivist claim is not only self-serving speculation but an indictment of his performance as director of Virginia prisons and the fact that such an assertion by executive function of Virginia's government, which the Department of Corrections is can be expressed publicly without pause and anticipation of opprobrium from our media, exposes what we must understand about the nature and system of government in Virginia.

Regardless of our individual politics and worldview, we cannot ignore the implicit narrative of Harold Clarkes 54%. Its historicity has long since worn its welcome and we must hold our politicians accountable for allowing it to exist. Prisoners exist only as facts of law and not the supposition of a prison official who seems oblivious to the fact that their professional existence is also a fact of law.  We have to understand the nature of the system and government in Virginia and reform it.

I'm William Thorpe and VADOC under the directorate of Harold Clarke exiled me to the Texas prison system because of how I think. I've been in Solitary Confinement since 1996 and am still in Solitary Confinement in Texas