Fixing Virginia's Prison System Requires Reforming Our Biases, Prejudices and Senator Jennifer Boysko By William Thorpe

During 2022 Virginia State Senator Jennifer Boysko (D) visited 4 Virginia Prisons because as she told the BlueVirginia.US [The] "Need to address some of the challenges."

Let me at this juncture say who I am. My name is William Thorpe and the Virginia Department of Corrections exiled me on May 29th, 2019 to the Texas prison system. Prior to the exile I had been in solitary confinement at Mecklenburg Correctional Center, Red Onion and Wallens Ridge State Prisons since 1996 after a hostage incident at Nottoway Correctional Center and I'm still solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit of the Texas prison system. 

What I want to say is this. Here are some issues concerning Virginia's prison experiment and imprisonment scheme that have had media air as Senator Jennifer Boysko visited Virgina prisons in 2022.

• Will Virgina end long-term solitary confinement.
• NPR uncovered secret execution tapes from Virginia. More remain hidden
• Inmate challenge use of strip searches in state prison
• Governor [Youngkin] recommends change to parole board bill wants prosecutors to be allowed to weigh in on release decisions.
• Senator Joe Morrissey: "Perhaps I was wrong" to allow private management of state prisons. 
• Virginia Solitary Confinement Reform bill passes but without key piece sought by advocates.
• Virginia coalition says Bill language to "end" Solitary Confinement runs risk of expanding it. 

Now let me say this, do I applaud Senator Boysko walking through Virginias prisons and talking to selected prisoners, do I recognize that she states the obvious? The point however begins with, what is the social contract/compact with the commonwealth? Harold Clarke, the Director of Virginia's Department of Corrections told Boysko's colleagues that 54% of Virginia prisoners would violently reoffend were they released and it was utilized as point to disenfranchise millions of Virginians who voted for reform of Virginias imprisonment scheme in the form of earned sentence credits, Which Governor Glen Younkin and his retrograde Republicans who are perennially scared of their shadows cast from the rising sun of progress in Virginia had to impede. I say to Senator Boysko, you want to talk, gather families of prisoners and victims of crime and their families, together and lets talk the hard truths.

By William Thorpe