THE KONCENTRATION KAMP RED ONION STATE PRISON VERSUS THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA By William Thorpe

Come on man, who is surprised by the recent disclosure by THE APPEAL, that the what to do brain storming of The Virginia Department of Corrections concerning the recent self-immolation by human beings under its care as prisoners at The Koncentration Kamp Red Onion State Prison, couldn't get past the tired, archaic, same ole same ole, reactionary rut unoriginality of dabbling in the speculations of aversive moral hazard accentuation. So The Appeals' reporting educates us with revelations that Koncentration Kamp Red Onion State Prison apparatchiks or prison officials doing their what is to be done on prisoner self-immolation were focused on imposing fines, court processes and adjudication along with all sorts of bizarre speculations, for example self-immolation was means for a contact visit,(the obvious irony that setting oneself on fire is in deed suicidal simply escaped and eluded its proponent) all at the expense of the obvious stop treating Virginia prisoners barbarically and savagely. There is an old adage, if all you have is a hammer then everything is a nail. The Virginia prison official haplessly equates imprisonment with, barbarity, savagery, pain, cruelty and the dynamic of the lash on an enslaved's back, because that was its progenitor. The reality is the Virginia prison official hasn't been made to disprove it, that its reactionary, intellectual-liberal speculations and antebellum suppositions of its terms and administration of imprisonment are professionally legitimate and valid to the only point of view that matters, which is that of The People of Virginia. Okay, so what do we have, The Virginia Department of Corrections is the State largest agency with the largest budget, in other words, The People of Virginia invest more in the creation of conditions and circumstances that compel, impell and drive its imprisoned to self-immolate, than in the education, job training, health care, housing and development of positive infrastructure towards the realization of its Social Contract aspirations. What we have come to incontrovertibly realize and recognize is in all standards of measure The Virginia Department of Corrections is unaccountable, because it doesn't have to measurably prove and show anything. Its one and clear function is, a redistributor of wealth and tax payer money to locales and environments that play no role in the "creation" of money. The prison official serves and provides a retail function in Virginia's political-economy as such its only perspective is to see the Virginia prisoner as chattel, a source of provisions. Consequently the Virginia prisoner is dehumanized and the relationship with the Department is antagonistic. The Virginia prison official consistently is at war, in a state of conflict with the Virginia prisoner. Of course we are given the contradictory verbiage of maintaining order, but the maintenance of such order, its definitions and applications shouldn't be casually left to the purely and obvious economic self-interest based sophistry of the prison officials' self-assertions, particularly after the recent Supreme Court of The United States rulings on "The Chevron Doctrine", on the authority of unelected administrative officials, including prison officials. What this shows is the impunity, a lack of accountability, compromising what it means to be human in post antebellum Virginia and the dictatorial predilections of the prison official to abuse, savage and violate law. Nonetheless the Virginia prison official despite their antipathy must be reminded are still defined by the norms and standards of Virginia's Social Contract, its Law.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit and if you feel any kinda way about this work contact me by Securus email using the Texas prison number #2261982

WHO SPEAKS FOR APRIL WRIGHT?: IT SURE ISNT HER TAXES SUPPORTED GOVERNMENT, WHO IS THE ONE TRAUMATIZING HER By William Thorpe

*Pictures are taken from the internet and are used for illustrative purposes only"

You know this stuff The Virginia Department Of Corrections, is doing is beyond castigation. Every other day revelations of horrors upon horrors of The Virginia Prison Officials' misdeeds are like a miasmic toxicity attacking, laying siege to whatever notion and idea of society we delude our selves of possessing and what is even more corrupting than that is the simple realization that government, our Commonwealth Of Virginia government can put a stop to it with the simple "enough is enough", because if no one is above the law, then the prison official who has the privileged presumption of its execution sure as hell isnt. So here we are with the latest revealed horror of the Virginia Prison official's misdeed in the form of the trauma and anguish of a Virginia Mother, April Wright, whose son, Austin Arocho is imprisoned under the "legal" supervision and speculative care of Virginia's Justice Infrastructure, The Virginia Department of Corrections and its Koncentration Kamps gulag. Austin Arocho for whatever its worth was processed under the justice system. (I need to state this, my 'for whatever its worth' declarative is simply this, the acceptance and faith in the, equality under law, presumption of Virginia's Social Contract, has been quite frankly, violated, compromised, mocked and broken, when Glenn Youngkin in the capacity as Virginia Governor chose to stand with, support and endorse a convicted felon, who is currently the president-elect of the United States, yes Donald Trump. A spectacle that not only betrayed the trust The Virginian should have in law, but it also challenged and undermined the trust citizens of a Sister State, New York, have in their own polity and law, by the corrupt amplification of Donald Trump's gibberish assertions. In so many words what we now have isn't that once upon a time dismissed critique of the marginalized of a tiered justice system, but the unmasked "might is right" default of the "tooth and claw" nature of our human condition. So thanks to our "Dear Leader" Governor Glenn Youngkin, Virginia's Justice Infrastructure henceforth has a big fat asterisked result.) The matter of April Wright's son Austin Arocho, starts with an incident at one of Virginia's Koncentration Kamps,Wallens Ridge State Prison.On June 2024 it is alleged that prison officials at Wallens Ridge assaulted Arocho while he was handcuffed and shackled. On July 2024 Arocho was transfered to another one of Virginia's Koncentration Kamps, the sister to Wallens Ridge, Red Onion State Prison,which recently had the entire world scratching heads in befuddlement at what was going on that prisoners confined in its cages were opting self-immolation. Arocho's experience upon arrival was the usual sadism,barbarity and savagery of being placed in a stripped cell, where he was naked, starved, denied outside exercise, verbally abused, in other words the usual Red Onion prison official behavior,which Federal courts in the Western District of Virginia are inundated with its claims.Subsequently Arocho according to his mother, April Wright attempted suicide by hanging.Then on November 2024 Arocho was transfered to a purported mental health prison operated by The Virginia Department of Corrections, Marion Treatment and this prison has its own distinct record of barbarity, savagery and prisoner deaths and according to Arocho's mother April Wright, her son hasn't been allowed to communicate with her, because she'd have heard from him but hasn't and considering its record of prison official misdeeds, she's devastatingly worried.

By William Thorpe

I'm William Thorpe Virginia exiled me to the Texas prison system. I'm solitary confined at the Wainwright Unit and if you feel any kinda way about this work contact me by Securus email using the Texas prison number #2261982

Virginias new corrections ombudsman will prioritize investigating Virginia's Red Onion State Prison

Dec 18, 2024

Virginia's new corrections ombudsman will prioritize investigating Red Onion State Prison, where allegations of mistreatment, prolonged isolation, and self-harm have sparked concern. Andrea Sapone, the state's new corrections ombudsman, announced that her office will prioritize investigating conditions and safety at Red Onion State Prison, which has faced scrutiny after a 2023 hunger strike and six self-immolations this year.By vapac

Director Dotson's Statement on Virginia's Red Onion State Prison Self Immolation

 

By vapac

Why are men jailed at US prison setting themselves alight? | The Take

al jazeera english

Men at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia are setting themselves on fire in protest of racism and abuse. On The Take,

hears from Noel Hanrahan, co-director of

Prison Radio

, about the abuses imprisoned men are facing:

In this episode:

• Noel Hanrahan, legal director for Redwood Justice Fund and co-director of Prison Radio

Episode credits: This episode was produced by Amy Walters, Sonia Bhagat, and Ashish Malhotra with Sarí el-Khalili, Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Duha Mosaad, Khaled Soltan, Hagir Saleh, Cole Van Miltenburg, and our host, Malika Bilal.  Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editor is Hisham Abu Salah. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

Special Thanks to Prison Radio for this update

The Exile of William Thorpe From Virginia to Texas, An Extraordinary Act

On May 29th, 2019 at approximately 6:30 am, a Wednesday. I had just had the starvation breakfast portions Red Onion State Prison in violation of its foodservice procedure, the Virginia Department of Corrections Food Service Manual and the cruel and unusual punishment prohibitions of the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides prisoners it detains in Solitary Confinement. When a contingent of 8 of its prison guards, including 2 sergeants under the command of Lieutenant Lambert came to the cell door and told me that I was going on transportation and I won't be taking my property. I wasn't told where I was being transferred to.

What Lt. Lambert and his comical lies of not knowing where I was being transported to didn't know was I had been told, just the day before, by one of his colleagues that I would be transferred to Texas        So began the end result of a process by official elements of the Virginia Department of Corrections to exile me to good ole Texas. After a 3 hour plus ride on the Governor of Virginia's plane, under escort of 4 plus pilot and co-pilot, the plane landed at the Huntsville, Texas Airport. The Huntsville area of Texas is a gulag in its own right, growing prisons.

After 39 years of imprisonment in Virginia and 24 continuous years of ongoing Solitary Confinement. Virginia claimed I was a Security Threat as basis to execute a scheme of exiling me to Texas. Aspects of my exile to Texas are universal and common. During my detention at Virginia's Red Onion State Prison in Solitary Confinement, I worked to expose by publicizing specific and general violations of its prison officials and in extension official elements of the Virginia Department of Corrections.

The question my exile poses besides the obvious Governmental abuse with its deceptive security threat basis which is nothing more than cover for petty and crass extrajudicial vindictiveness for the Virginia Justice System is simple and it isn't limited to my circumstance. Besides regardless of the "legality" of the exile, it's motive details an extrajudicial act and its execution underscores an intrinsic aspect of our human condition which in a nutshell is: irrespective of the backdrop of law, there isn't a just and democratic accounting of its misuse. People will apply their petty tyrannical impulses, which in this instance prison officials under cover of law but in unlawful ways. Those prison officials who decided that my work, of exposing their violations and malfeasance as it were, was so intolerable, despite the fact it is inalienable, that they had to pervert the privilege the citizenry of Virginia had given them        to lawfully imprison humans, by misapplying the extraordinary authority of characterizing a prisoner, a security threat have no measure of its accounting save for publicity and it's exposures.

The only response my exile ask of all people who understand that prison officials, in particular, must be held accountable is:

• Demand I am returned to Virginia and released from Solitary Confinement
• Involve yourself in the work of holding officials of national [including state and local] justice system accountable so the question of what is justice and due process isn't stuck in an academic-speculative loop while in practice it is left to the savagery and Sado -barbarity of reactionary minds and hearts who substitute presumptions and suppositions for thought.

The work of Justice reform contrary to how it is formulated and presented to the public even by advocates isn't removed or exclusive of society's integral narrative, instead, it is fundamental and germane to it. The prison official is subject to a type of bias that society's apathy and ignorance has allowed and permitted to exist to the point it is assumed as an unimpeachable fact. A heightened recognition of this is vital to whether we are informed and practical in our anticipations. If society is to hold prison officials accountable and it must, the understanding of what is being done in the name of the Virginia taxpayer should not be left to colloquial hypocrisies.

 By William Thorpe detained at the Eastham Unit in Texas in Solitary Confinement

NOTE Get a Feel Of Eastham Unit Our appreciation for Photos by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

Virginia Prison Assaultive Behavior

Virginia ROSP Guards returning to their Assaultive Behavior. From March/April 2019 3 prisoners in handcuffs, shackles, held in solitary confinement beaten, Slammed face-first to ground NotCute Prison Staff BreakingLaw

Mr. Reginald Dwayne Betts and Specific Injustice: The Divide and Conquer Dynamic of Tokenism As Status Quo Ally by William Thorpe

Lets see: Since Mr. Reginald Dwayne Betts made it out of Virginia's prisons in 2005; over a dozen prisoners have committed suicides. Scores of prisoners have been assaulted by prison guards along with bites from prison dogs at Red Onion, Wallens Ridge, Sussex 1 and Sussex ll state prisons to name the most egregious all in violation of the Constitutions of the United States, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Statutes of the Commonwealth of Virginia and more immediately Virginia Department of Corrections Operating Procedures.

Philosophers and locomotives of history, men who challenge status quo reaction have instructed that there cannot be specific claims of injustice at the expense of its generalized causal basis. Because it is evident, acts that run afoul of status quo established acceptances are reflective and consequences of systemic and endemic contradictions and antagonisms. So notwithstanding Mr. Betts experience and particular criminality, his actions causing his imprisonment within the Virginia Prison Experiment cannot and should not be seen as independent and exclusive of the greater environment and its generalized causal basis. A greater environment which we encounter and experience through the actions of its Virginia Prison Official and guards as engaging in the deviant and lawless behavior and criminality that resulted Mr. Betts imprisonment.

In his October 16, 2018 essay "Could An Ex-Convict Become an Attorney? I Intended To Find Out." Mr. Betts shares his experience and presumptive triumph. A presumption which Mr. Betts and his apologist would rather we focus on the exclusivity and specificity of his story and its incidentals as metric of "his" efforts. In so many words, his fit in the general environment as a success and triumph which in fact underscores the injustice generality, or there wouldn't be anything noteworthy to share, but as incident of the injustice generality typifies it's systemic and endemic contradictions and antagonisms. Yet as rote-example of the typical status quo mythical expectation of its subordinated and one-dimensional classes which renders humans to a pathetic alienated caricature ala' Clarence Thomas Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. Betts is unaware of the fact if there is a story to be told, it is that of An Expose of the Injustice Generality  Because there is nothing triumphant in the social emergence of an articulation of humaness whose measure is based solely on the ignorance and superstitions of the human condition. This fact underlines and emphasizes this point: enough with the tokenism validation of the political-economy construct whose motive-force is hypocrisy in all measure of itself. Because had the Clarence Thomas's of this divide and conquer dynamic of tokenism as status quo ally, practiced their historical duties, the Reginald Betts of history is only to be realized within the hypocrisies of the national social-contract. If Mr. Betts Virginia Prison Experience taught him nothing, he should have come away from the experience understanding Jeffersonian dialectic of speculating, theorizing on the liberty of man while applying and practicing a political-economy of enslaving man is alive and well with the legatee Virginia Prison officials violating the rule of law with impunity, while practicing a political-economy of imprisoning those convicted of violating the rule of law.

American-political economy, which Virginia is a component requires injustice and it's hypocrisy medium as any parasite demands a host. This fact of the American political-economy isn't a unique exclusive critique instead it is a fact of the rife ignorance and superstitions of the human condition. The problem with the narrative of the Reginald Betts as inspirational testimonials is historical because it distorts and relegates the necessary insight required to hold the status quo accountable. Because it supports and enables injustice not only as an experiential tolerance but intellectual speculations sealed with that wink and nod of the classic hoodwink. Which has taught is the hallmark of the collaborator.

William Thorpe is held in Solitary Confinement at Virginia's Red Onion State prison since 1998

Trans-Gender Translates Into: Unsanitary Conditions, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Abuse at Virginia Prisons

TOTAL DISRESPECT AT VIRGINIA VADOC's INSTITUTIONS

Ja-Quitha Earth Camellia fka Steven Ray Delk TransWoman incarcerated in VADOC. (Name legally changed in VA.) (By the way, we at "vapacommittee" ask why the Virginia Department of Corrections is refusing to use her legally changed name?)

Upon arrival at Sussex 1 State Prison (S1SP) after an 8-hour ride from [Virginia] Red Onion State Prison in a steel box (a steal death trap) She, Ja-Quitha was subjected to blatant unmasked discrimination and sexual harassment by S1SP administration she is a bra and panty wearing girl known by the fact that is an essential critical element in her mental health treatment (Dr. Meredith R. Carey VADOC, her priority mental health provider) but S1SP gave her 3X boxer and so bra she has 38B breast so it is quite obvious that S1SP actions were geared to cause mental and emotional pain. (But Ja-Quitha knows the evils of the VADOC quite well she was RAPED at ROSP [Red Onion State Prison] physically and mentally (see active civil action (2) ) S1SP only stuck to the VADOC guideline in treating us transgender-women: It only got worst- (yes I was denied proper undergarments I am 5'7 168lb) (A 3X even if I were going to wear boxers).

Oh yeah, I was held in a visitor booth for 2 hours waiting to be seen by medical and today which is 1-13-19 as I write this I still have not seen a physician here at S1SP. But fear is as I was in the booth on 12-27-18 with full restraints including the black box what if I fall there is no one in the 4x6 to help me no security present. (Violation 3) I was denied my medical lotion and anti-embolism thigh highs, no hygiene no toothpaste, soap, deodorant or toothbrush for 7 whole days, no shower shoes.

I was forced to stand in a shower box after I refused to go into a cell with a broken toilet full of fermenting fecal matter and urine (see video footage of CO's gagging as they open the door to the cell 3B41 on 12-27-18,

I am being treated for PTSD, depression, and anxiety. I also suffer from all that comes with Gender Dysphoria. Fear consumes me but the VADOC's daily menu of subjection to hate bias prejudice abuse simply because I am Trans Gender & sexual makes life unbearable requiring constant therapy and treatment. I am being denied the basic of life. It is a sad day when life's essential needs are denied simply because I was born different then [than] you.

So VA. politicians, citizens and all of you: I nor any other Trans Gender sexual was sentenced to these acts of violence!!

So which of you will stand and with a beaming smile take credit yes proudly cradling the birth of your child the VADOC, S1SP, ROSP.

State Prisons of corruption.

Will you be there when they kill me?

Trans Lives Matter~No one can speak for us & We will be heard

Please respond to my (no our fight) 

Ja-Quitha Earth Camellia #1097269

F/K/A Steven Delk

(NOTE Ms. Camellia provided a S1SP address but she has since been transferred Red Onion State Prison)

Ja-Quitha Earth Camellia FKA Steven Ray Delk is imprisoned in Virginia's prison system, serving her sentence at this time in Sussex 1 State Prison. She wanted to share with the public a glimpse of a life of a Trans in the VADOC. Her following is with the Pink Panthers, she stated If you wish to receive the latest news in the Trans Community following [me] "Earth", Write to her and show her support. Her address is: 

Ja-Quitha Earth Camellia #1097269 

F/K/A Steven Ray Delk
Sussex 1 State Prison
24414 Musselwhite Drive
Waverly, VA 23891-1111

References

Delk-v-Moran 7:16-CV-00554

Pink Panther Movement

Two South Carolina mental health patients drowned in a prison transport

Freddie Gray Van Driver Found Not Guilty of Administrative Charges

Freddie Gray Died From ‘Rough Ride,’ Prosecutors Assert

🔥PRIORITY ALERT🔥 - Virginia Sussex 1 State Prison Dog Bites Prisoners In A Melee, Subsequent Transfers

Prison Dog Bites Prisoners In A Melee on 1/9/19;  at Virginia Sussex 1 State Prison general population, during one of it's infrequent out of cell exercise. Subsequently on 1/10/19; members of the Sussex 1 State Prison Strike Force and others from within the Virginia Department of Corrections Eastern Region participated in transferring at least 30 prisoners from Sussex 1 to Red Onion State Prison and Wallens Ridge State Prisons. The prison is/was on total lockdown and a shakedown [cells are being searched]. This is not the first time incidents have happened at Sussex 1 State Prison, with response from the administration, en masse transfer to Red Onion or Wallens Ridge Stae Prison.

Also around 12/21/18 or 12/23/18 a prisoner allegedly committed suicide in a Sussex 1 State Prison Solitary Confinement cell in pod 3D

Prisoner families and friends are urged to contact the prisons and check up on the well being of their loved ones. We also ask mainstream media to find out what's going on at Sussex 1 State Prison

LETS HOLD PRISON OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE

By vapac

PRACTICE OF STARVING VIRGINIA PRISONERS BY i.e RED ONION STATE PRISON, CATHOLIC USE OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT and OTHER EXTRA-JUDICIAL PRACTICES CONTRIBUTE TO PRISONERS CHRONIC MEDICAL CONDITIONS BY WILLIAM THORPE

If the General Assembly's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission is concerned with the rising cost of medical care for prisoners the within Virginia Prison system and it's Department of Corrections then the primary locus and orientation should be on prevention, styming causes that are within the Virginia Department of Corrections control, which the department already has a constitutional obligation to do. Under the United States Constitution 8th Amendment and Virginia Constitution Article 1 section 9 prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

" The Eighth Amendment prohibits the infliction of "cruel and unusual punishment," U.S. Const. Amend. VIII, this prohibition proscribes more than physical barbarous punishment. It also encompasses the treatment a prisoner receives in prison and the conditions under which he is confined. In particular, the Eighth Amendment imposes a duty on prison officials to provide humane conditions of confinement and ensure that inmates receive adequate food, clothing, shelter and medical care."  

See Estelle v. Gamble 429 U.S. 97 [1993] 

Helling v. McKinney 509 U.S. 25 [1993]

Farmer v. Brennan 511 U.S. 825 [1994]

Starving prisoners, Use of Solitary Confinement are also causes of prisoner chronic medical conditions.

A recent report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission presents an idealistic and one-dimensional conclusion that totally ignores that the very nature of how the Virginia Department of Corrections performs its duties, practically unaccountable to the Virginia taxpayer is a primary cause of chronic health issues among the prisoner population.

So for starters, if the food service departments of the various prisons i.e. Red Onion State Prison would obey the U.S. Constitution 8th Amend. requirement of providing prisoners with adequate food and comply with the Departments Master Menu and its provisions and stop starving prisoners, by using food as an ad-hoc extrajudicial punishment. Prisoners would be relatively healthy enough with a fortified immune system to resist levels of ailments that are currently precipitating and necessitating, heightened medical care of Virginia prisoners and its costs. 

Secondly, medicine has long determined that stress causes trauma which induces all sorts of chronic and extreme medical conditions and health problems and what is more stressful than the solitary confinement aspect of prison? Yes, despite this medical fact which the Virginia Prison officials have the professional responsibility and constitutional obligation of knowing and not violating.

The Virginia prison officials i.e. The Red Onion State Prison official has reduced the metric of their administration philosophy and its practice to crude but novel ways of confining prisoners in solitary despite contrary assertions and espousals of reform of the practice. So prisoners at Red Onion State Prison are confined in solitary, in conditions that cause hypertension, cardiac disease, atrophication, respiratory conditions due to the indiscriminate and violative use of OC Gas and spray inside the closed confines of cells.

"it has long been established that prison officials violate the Eighth Amendment by using "mace, tear gas or other chemical agents in quantities greater than necessary or for the sole purpose of infliction of pain."

See: Williams v. Benjamin 77 F. 33d 756 [4th Cir. 1996]

Thirdly, if the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission finds the Department of Corrections mental health care prohibitive. A more practical and objective finding would have been, that the totality of practices of prisons i.e. Red Onion State Prison is contributive to the prevalence of chronic medical conditions and mental health issues among the prisoner population. Study in point prisoners is not sentenced to commit suicide in prison. Yet, Red Onion State Prison has had suicides which Virginias Government hasn't for all practical purpose investigated.

So if the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission is being objective and not performing another bureaucratic pro forma study that only highlights a conventional colloquialism. Then it should do what the medical and mental health community have consensus on: Preventative care and that will require a comprehensive critique of the Virginia Department of Corrections philosophy.

William Thorpe is in Solitary Confinement at Red Onion State Prison since 1998

Reference

 JLARC | Spending on Inmate Healthcare

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

References:

• VI Inmate Opens Up About Unthinkable Abuse He And Others Endure At Out-Of-State Prisons
• Department Of Justice Launches Full Investigation Into Treatment Of VI Prisoners Held In Off-Island Facilities 
• Bureau Of Corrections Working Alongside D.O.J. On Investigation Into Treatment Of VI Prisoners Held In Off-Island Facilities
•  Justice Department Quietly Digs into Account of Stateside Prison Abuse | St. Thomas Source
• Virginia Prisons Accountability Committee:  VIRGIN ISLANDS CONSORTIUM CHRONICLES VI PRISONER ABUSE WHILE HELD AT VIRGINIA'S RED ONION STATE PRISON
• Virginia Prisons Accountability Committee: VIRGIN ISLANDS CONSORTIUM REPORTS V.I. BUREAU OF CORRECTIONS & DOJ EXAMINING FORMER RED ONION STATE PRISONER ABUSE

VIRGIN ISLANDS CONSORTIUM CHRONICLES VI PRISONER ABUSE WHILE HELD AT VIRGINIA'S RED ONION STATE PRISON

This week we learned from Editor-In-Cheif and journalist Ernice Gilbert of The Virgin Islands Consortium who first reported an astounding account of Virgin Island detainee Hector Ledesma recount of prisoner abuse while he was imprisoned at Virginia's Red Onion State Prison by Guards.

The following article is about the ongoing reports of unimaginable mistreatment prisoners persistently endure at the hands of corrupt prison guards in Virginia Penitentiaries written by Virgin Island Hector Ledesma. 

My name is Hector Ledesma.  I have been incarceration for the past 13 years and 9 months.  I was recently doing time in Virginia Red Onion Super-Max State Prison.  I was sent there from Citrus Count detention center. Upon arrival to Red Onion, I was placed in a locked down cell with stool all over the walls.  I was told to remove my clothes and give it to the officers, so I did. I was then locked in that cell with no clothes. The officers refused to give me showers for three months, they refuse to give me any soap, toothpaste and other hygiene.  The first time I brushed my mouth my gums was so tender that they started to bleed. I was given no toilet paper and the toilet and sink in the cell was not working either. The officers refused to give me a bed mattress so I had to try to sit and lay o the cold iron for months.  I was being STARVED FOR THREE DAYS of EVERY SINGLE WEEK. So, for three days straight per week I would receive no breakfast, lunch or dinner. I had to DRINK MY OWN URINE TO SURVIVE. I was BEATEN/ABUSED by the officers all BECAUSE I was from the Virgin Islands. I thought I was going to die, I felt like dying.  I tried sending some type of letter to my mother over on St. Croix but one day SGT. Flemming came to the cell door with something in his hands, he looked at me and said ‘what is this boy, you trying to snitch on us? Nobody could help you, don’t you see that your own Government don’t care about you, that’s why they sent you up here.’  I just ignored him. Next thing I knew my door was being buzz opened and in comes the officers, I moved back up on the wall and they kept coming after me calling me “Island Monkey.” They said where you gonna run to, and started beating me up, they left me on the floor bleeding through my mouth.

On another occasion I was sitting with my head between my legs while I sat on the cold floor, and the officer said stand up you piece of shit before I come in there and F*** you up.  So I took a little time to stand up and he called back up. When they came in my room, I said what was the problem, they said get on the floor now mother f***er, so I did as I was told.  They then had the dog breathing and dribbling over me while they laughed. Sgt. Flemming then took his foot and put it on top on my buttocks and said don’t f***ing move. Then he started to rub his foot on my butt and said nice ass, then he started rubbing harder, my penis and testicles started to hurt cause it was rubbing on the cold floor, so I tried to move and he punched me behind my head and said I told you not to move you piece of shit.  When they left, again I was coughing out blood. Even writing this right now is killing me inside, having to relive those moments. I thought I was gonna die. I didn’t know what to do. I felt like giving up. I drew a face with my blood on the wall. I used to speak to the face on the wall to try to give myself some type of hope some type of comfort, some type of energy so I wouldn’t give up. I was so tired and beaten down. I didn’t know how much more I could have taken.  I spent nights crying inside. I prayed so hard. Just when I was thinking of a way to give up on life, I started thinking about my family and friends and I kept telling myself to be strong for them. I heard my Sister Demaris voice in my head telling me to keep fighting. Don’t give up the family needs you.

I started thinking about a few people and the good they have done for me, and I told myself I have to find a way to stay strong, don’t give up, don’t surrender, keep pushing through, you have love ones waiting for you to be free.  So I refuse to die, I refuse to give into the pressure. One day I took a chance and sent a letter to my mother and from what I was told, she received it, she cried out for me when she read it. I was telling her they trying to kill me and to get help asap and so on. I’m pretty sure she still has that letter. So my Mother went to B.O.C Golden Grove crying and spoke to Officer Morris among others and showed him the letter. They assured her that they was gonna help me but they did nothing. I kept getting TORTURED DAY IN AND DAY OUT with NO HELP.

One day B.O.C. Officials to include Director Mulgrav, Officer Morris, Classification Leader Ms. Dewese, Head of Medical Linda Caldwell came to Red Onion to visit us and see how The V.I inmates were doing.  All of US told them about the abuse and mistreatment we are receiving. I even told them about the officers beating my mentally ill cousin Michael Ledesma unconscious. They bust his head open and let the dog bit him up, all because they was telling him to come off the bunk and he took too long to respond. Of course, he would. He is MENTALLY ILL, but they don’t know how to deal with mentally ill inmates so they think beating the crap out of them is the right way.  B.O.C officials saw him for themselves and still did nothing about it. They claimed said they would look into it because that’s not the first time that they are hearing complains like this. They assured us that they were going to move us from that particular prison because of the abuse of not only Virgin Island inmates but reports of excessive force and abuse of other out of state inmates. I told them, by us coming to them about the treatment that the officers will retaliate and I was told not to worry because B.O.C will continue a check on us to make sure that we are okay. On my way back to my cell the two officers who were escorting me said to me, You rat mother***er, we told you that nobody gonna help you.  You thought we were joking. We got something for you later. I said nothing. I just felt like BREAKING DOWN.

So later that night around 9pm I heard my door popped open and saw the same two officers standing there with an African American inmate.  They said you bitch mother f***er, here’s a present for you. So they locked us in and walked away, I knew what time it was, because they don’t move anyone so late at night and they also do not mix race in the same cell unless you request it on paper.  It’s VI with VI, Spanish with Spanish and so forth. So I already knew I was about to get stabbed maybe to death. I jumped off the bed, there was inmate AJ with a shank in his hand, so I stood there with a wire in my hand and my shoes ready to fight for my life.  But then one guy yelled out to me through the AC vent. He said VI what’s going on down there. I told him nothing I’m good. When inmate AJ heard my accent he said oh shit you from the islands. I said yeah and what. He said what the f*** did I get myself into and told me the cops lied to him.  They told him that they gonna put him in a cell with A White Snitch, deal with him and they gonna look out for him, they gonna send him to a lower land prison. Inmate AJ then said dude I don’t want no problems with no VI people. I got love for you guys. I love the VI so I told him what are we gonna do about this then cause you can’t stay in this cell with me when I already know your motives.  AJ then gave me the shank/knife and said dude that’s proof that I don’t want no problems with the VI. So three days after the officers realize nothing was done to me and they ask him why the f*** is He still breathing. AJ then told them he is from the VI he ain’t no white dude like you told me. I sent word to my mother to alert B.O.C officials about this retaliation on my life. My mother emailed Director Mulgrav, Linda Caldwell and Ms. Dewese about the latest incident and the only reply my mother got was from Director Mulgrav asking who she was.  And once again they did nothing to help. That’s when I was convinced that B.O.C. left me there to die.

The following day the same officers brought a charge against AJ.  The charge was that he disrespected them which was a lie. They wanted him out of my cell to try put someone else, but the same day AJ had to go to what we call Kangaroo Court for the write up, that same exact day I was So Blessed that some Marshals came to get  me for another case back in the VI. My life was spared because of my accent and also because the Marshals came for me for another case. I tried seeking help and was unsuccessful. Last December I spent about three weeks on St. Croix in Golden Grove, my first night sleeping up by booking control, at night two officers opened my door to check on me and saw me lying down under the bed under the iron and asked me what was wrong with me and why I was sleeping under the bed on the cold floor, and for a moment I realized I was back in the VI.  I slept under the bed because I figure whenever the door open the officers coming in to beat me so I felt safe under the bed. While I was in Puerto Rico Federal Prison I did the samething as well. I had 15 different roommates because nobody lasted there with me. I was losing it. I was losing my mind. And still my torture and abuse is still going unnoticed.

As I write this, I am on St. Thomas prison, the Annex and I’m still having problems mentally and to this day I have received no help and there are still V.I inmates in Red Onion along with Wallens Ridge prisons in Virginia getting tortured and abused. One of the sad things is that we’re just up there filling slots for other inmates who left.  It’s a vicious cycle. Those two prisons are max prisons for high risk deadly inmates. If you ask BOC’s Director to contact BOC’s classification for the prison records of any VI inmate housed in those prisons, you would be shocked to learn most of these inmates are inmates with good behavior. I know of VI inmates sent to these supermax prisons without a single write up while incarcerated in the Virgin Islands, but they are in a super max prison.  It’s a cycle that needs to end. They rotate us and sell us like slaves. They sell us off to the lowest bidder. I believe, if the contract for, lets say Red Onion, states that 15 VI inmates will be housed there, then what happens is everytime an inmate gets release or moved from Red Onion State Prison, BOC just sends another body to fill that vacancy.

It’s sad because the Virgin Islands is such a small and beautiful place where everybody knows everybody.  How could you send away your own people to racist, homosexual, abusive, gang prisons to be hurt? There is no rehabilitation in those prisons.  Those prisons just fill you up with hate. There are no programs for us up there and by law their should be.

VI Code says “the Director of Corrections is authorized to enter into agreements to use the correctional or detention facilities of the United States Bureau of Prisons; or the correctional facilities of any state or local government or private correctional entity located in the United States, its territories, possessions, commonwealths or the District of Columbia, which are accredited by the American Correctional Association, when the Director of Corrections determines that detention and/or correctional facilities within the Virgin Islands are inadequate to serve the best interest of the inmate or the general interest or welfare of the Territory; provided that as a condition of the prior to the transfer of any inmates, the Director of Corrections shall ascertain and ensure the availability of educational and/or vocational programs at the institution they are to be transferred to for the purpose of enabling such inmate to gain marketable skills, and provided further that no inmate is to be transferred to any institution lacking any such program(s).”

Also on December 28, 1979 Ali vs. Gibson, civil number 76-535, Mr. Ali argued about his illegal transfer to an out-of-state prison was a violation of his due process because you are not allowed to send away an inmate to state prison without giving him or her an advance notice and a hearing as to why you are sending that inmate away.

Title 5 V.IC.s 4501 Through s4503 Indicates the proper procedure for sending VI inmates to out-of-state prisons.  As of currently, they are sending us away to these abusive prisons for no reason knowing fully well of the abuse we receive in those prisons. To this day, I still dream and have cold sweats whenever I think about what I went through up there and what my fellow VI inmates are still going through up there. These prisons are setting us up for failure.  It feels like we are being set up to come right back in prison, be killed, or continue a life of crime. We want none of these things for ourselves. However, we are a byproduct of what has happened to us, of what our VI government allowed these out-of-state prisons to do to us. There is no rehabilitation. In the 13 years and 8 months I have been incarcerated what I have learned more than anything else how to survive. I have gained alot of pain in my heart from being away in out-of-state prisons away from my loved ones.  There is a sincere disappointment that our VI Government has allowed state prison officials to take advantage of me and my fellow VI inmates. Please end this cycle. People keep saying stop the violence. Well you should start from in the prison system. Help us. It’s cheaper to educate than to incarcerate. Don’t wait until it’s somebody you love to want to help. Bring us home to our families or put us in better state prisons so we can get the proper care, treatment and education that we need. This will allow us a chance of being successful when we return to our community.

By Hector Ledesma Submitted by: Cydmarie Cruz, cousin of inmate Hector Ledesma.

Editors Note: Written with the permission from the family of  Hector Ledesma expressing they are trying to be heard. Stating It's sad how people could automatically think an inmate is lying when he or she reports abuse by prison officials...Mr. Ledesma's cousin Cydmarie Cruz states: They assume that prison officials are there to protect and ensure safety so they can't possibly be abusive...Who feels it knows it. My family Mr. Ledesma is not worried about the doubters..He is to focus on getting something done..The Attorney general and Prison officials are now claiming that they are investigating Prison abuse..Yesterday a Sergeant that works in the prison and for PREA met with Mr. Ledesma to discuss what happened in Red Onion...the family states Truthfully the government are full of crap. They are only trying to do something now because election time is next month. We are not concerned about them and their bs Politricks ..We just need a course of action. The abuse has to stop..

Related Article DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LAUNCHES FULL INVESTIGATION INTO TREATMENT OF VI PRISONERS HELD IN OFF-ISLAND FACILITIES 

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The VI Consortium was founded in 2014 covering U.S. Virgin Islands news, politics.