STATUS UPDATE AND HEALTH OF THE ECOSYSYEM OF VIRGINIA'S PRISON REFORM ACTIVITY

 

Overall Health: 6.5/10

Direction: Improving

Momentum: Moderate to Strong

Fragility: High

Virginia's prison reform movement is very much alive, arguably more influential than it was during the later Youngkin years, but it remains structurally fragile because many of its gains are administrative rather than permanently embedded in law.

What Looks Healthy

1. Reform Advocates Have More Access to Government Than They Did Recently

Governor Abigail Spanberger created the Governor's Community Partnership Council on Corrections, bringing together advocates, formerly incarcerated people, families, faith groups, public safety officials, and DOC leadership for ongoing policy input. 

For longtime Virginia activists, this is significant.

Groups that spent years protesting outside facilities like Red Onion and Wallens Ridge are now obtaining direct administrative access. That does not guarantee reform, but it means the movement has a seat at the table rather than shouting through the window.

2. Prison Conditions Became a Mainstream Policy Issue

The administration publicly acknowledged longstanding problems involving:

• staffing shortages
• facility lockdowns
• overdose deaths
• use-of-force practices
• transparency concerns

The fact that state leadership is publicly discussing these topics represents a major shift from earlier eras when DOC criticisms were more easily dismissed.

3. Measurable Operational Improvements

The administration reported:

• 56% reduction in serious inmate-on-staff assaults
• 47% reduction in confirmed overdoses
• 27% reduction in lockdowns
• 39% reduction in use-of-force incidents

Those numbers come from the Governor's office and DOC, so advocates will naturally want independent verification, but they indicate the administration is attempting to govern through performance metrics rather than pure rhetoric.

4. Legislative Activity Is Ongoing

Reform legislation continues moving through Richmond.

Examples include:

• expanded earned sentence credit calculations for incarcerated people awaiting trial or conviction processing (HB 361) [lis.virginia.gov], [legiscan.com]
• legal-access protections for people in local and regional jails (HB 126) [vpap.org]
• proposed expansion of educational, employment, literacy, and reentry programming inside prisons (HB 1280) [lis.virginia.gov]

That tells me prison reform remains a functioning legislative issue rather than a dormant one.

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What Remains Unhealthy

1. Red Onion Still Casts a Long Shadow

The movement continues to be driven partly by reports coming out of Red Onion and other supermax facilities.

Self-immolation protests, allegations of retaliation, racism concerns, and ongoing litigation continue to shape public discussion.

Whenever a state's flagship prison reform conversation is still anchored to reports from its most controversial facility, that is a sign the underlying legitimacy crisis has not fully been resolved.

2. Independent Oversight Remains Weak

If you ask veteran organizers what major issue remains unresolved, many will answer:

independent oversight.

This theme appears repeatedly in activism surrounding the Virginia Prison Justice Network and the People's Tribunal process. Reform advocates continue arguing that DOC investigations are not enough and that stronger external review mechanisms are needed.

3. Staffing Problems Have Not Disappeared

DOC leadership has acknowledged significant vacancy concerns despite improvements. Staffing shortages affect:

• recreation
• educational programming
• mental health services
• medical response
• lockdown frequency

Many prison-condition complaints ultimately trace back to personnel shortages.

4. Reform Is Still Personality-Dependent

This is the largest strategic weakness.

Much of today's momentum depends upon:

• current executive leadership
• current DOC leadership
• current political climate

The movement has gained administrative allies, but administrative allies can be replaced.

The question activists should always ask is:

"What reforms survive the next governor?"

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Health of the Advocacy Ecosystem

Strongest Organizations / Networks

The most durable organizing infrastructure appears to remain centered around:

• Virginia Prison Justice Network (VAPJN)
• Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality
• Coalition partners focused on solitary confinement, parole restoration, sentencing reform, and prisoner-family advocacy.

These groups have survived multiple administrations and continue publishing newsletters, organizing rallies, holding tribunals, documenting prisoner testimony, and participating in current policy discussions.

From an organizer's perspective, that institutional persistence matters more than any single bill.

---

Outlook

Next 2 Years

I would watch five indicators:

1. Independent oversight proposals.
2. Red Onion litigation outcomes.
3. Earned-sentence-credit implementation.
4. Expansion of reentry and education programs.
5. Whether the new Corrections Council becomes a permanent institution or a temporary political project.

Bottom Line

If we were writing a movement health report, we'd classify Virginia's prison-reform ecosystem as:

"Rebuilding and gaining influence, but not yet transformed."

The reform side has more access, more public visibility, and more policy traction than it had a few years ago. Yet most core activist demands, especially independent oversight, parole expansion, meaningful accountability for abuse allegations, and structural changes at high-security facilities, remain unfinished business.

For someone involved in advocacy work like VAPAC, we'd describe the current moment as an opportunity window rather than a victory lap. The door is open wider than it has been, but the foundation under those gains is not yet permanent.

By vapac

WE APPLAUD THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA WHO REMINDED US OF WHAT OPEN POLITICAL ACTION AND SPEECH LOOKS LIKE BY VOTING FOR THE RESTORATION OF VOTING RIGHTS FOR THE EX IMPRISONED VIRGINIAN ON NOVEMBER 3, 2026 By William Thorpe

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

First of all besides applauding the People of Virginia for approving Proposal # 3, a Constitutional Amendment to the Virginia Constitution, that automatically restores all voting rights and privileges to the ex imprisoned Virginian. I want to also bring attention to and focus on the fact that the People of Virginia resoundingly rejected the Virginia Republican Party's deployment of it's typical gambit of misdirecting the People's frustration and ire by scapegoating prison and criminal justice issues, with its recent farcical and maliciously disingenuous criticism of the Virginia Parole Board's fulfillment of its legal obligations and responsibilities, by paroling eligible Virginia Prisoners, with their passage of Proposal #3, Amendment restoring the voting rights of the released Virginia prisoner. This voter approval of the restoration of the franchise to the ex imprisoned Virginian, isn't just a big deal, but a great deal, for a lot of reasons along with dispensing and disabusing an entire universe of misconceptions, along with providing the opportunity for real questions about Virginia's Social Contract, not only to be asked but confront honest answers. Yes anytime the vote is expanded, it must be celebrated because we are another step down the road of that perfection of the unity of the People. Which essentially means we are actually annihilating those historical methods and means exploited by opportunist as antagonisms, but in fact are no more than insight providing contradictions, towards the creation of, again the unity of the People. I BEGIN: 43%+ of Virginia voters said No, to restoring the voting rights of the released ex imprisoned Virginian. The issue isn't that its their prerogative to say No, but if it is understood that the deprivation and denial of the right to vote, is simply an act of dehumanization and the relegation to something less, than a socio-person regardless of rationale, logic and it's dictatorship of purpose and this understanding is subsequently sabotaging the very idea the franchise and vote is intended to construct, support, endorse and realize. Then the only conclusion the act of supporting dehumanization speaks to and reveals is schizophrenia at worst and at least, cognitive-dissonance. We see this as that seemingly intractable deviant set of Social Contract relations, permitting and enabling the existence of the various exploitive enterprises, from the Commonwealth's organized-violence of its own Justice Infrastructure to the various snake oil Think Tanks selling the shameless doubling down on suppositions and hypocrisies, that once again the very purpose of The Vote and voting, which they claim its defense, emerged as antithesis. What the 56.5% of Virginians who voted for the restoration of the vote to the released ex imprisoned Virginian, reminds us is this, that the majority of Virginians are enlightened and maturely capable of grasping that the aspirations of the Social Contract isn't mechanistically dictatorial but a means for, if our claim that human life is sacrosanct and isn't mere exploitive opportunity for that always lurking nemesis as ulterior, Society's speech of accountability as Justice, being redemptive, resurrectionist and anti-dehumanization. What we also learned is 82% of Virginia Democrats voted Yes for the restoration of the vote, while 36% of Virginia Republicans voted No to continue the dehumanization. Urban Virginia voted Yes, Rural said No.

Bry William Thorpe

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.

2026 ADDITION OF VIRGINIA DAY ON SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 8TH, 2026 THE SECOND SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER WHICH IS VIRGINIA DAY ON SOLITARY CONFINEMENT WE STAND WITH IMPRISONED VIRGINIAN.  as an annual awareness and advocacy day focused on opposition to solitary confinement in Virginia prisons. 

Key points:

• VAPAC designated the second Sunday in November as Virginia Day on Solitary Confinement Awareness Day. 
• The purpose is to encourage public discussion about the psychological and human-rights impacts of long-term isolation in prison. 
• Organizers encourage participation through social media posts, discussions, signs, videos, radio call-ins, and other forms of public advocacy. Suggested hashtags include #VaDayOnSolitaryConfinement and #NovemberVASecondSunday. 
• The observance is tied to ongoing debates over Virginia's use of what the Department of Corrections calls "restorative housing," a term critics argue can still amount to solitary confinement. Virginia enacted restrictions in 2023 requiring, among other things, at least four hours per day out of cell and periodic reviews, though advocates criticized the law for not including a hard 15-day limit.
• The issue remains active in Virginia. In 2026, a federal judge allowed a class-action lawsuit challenging long-term solitary confinement practices at Red Onion State Prison to proceed to trial. [acluva.org] 

So on this 2026 edition of solidarity with the imprisoned Virginian, we call on Family, Ally, and Friends, and the people of Virginia to speak out and reject the practice of solitary confinement regardless of name

VAPAC

A JUSTICE INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE IMPRISONMENT APPLICATION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A JUST DUE OR IDEALISTIC NOTIONS OF "JUSTICE" AND THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA ISNT ANY DIFFERENT By William Thorpe

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

This is not the first time I'm tackling this aspect of the Social Contract of our human condition, however as simple as its grasp is, its still a hard pill for people to swallow that the entire "JUSTICE" pageantry, has nothing to do with whatever narrative is presented as reason and purpose. Anyway I do have to get into the nuts and bolts of it, because if we are to compel reform of Virginia's imprisonment scheme, then we have to have its comprehensive grasp. First of all everything about the human condition has a history or explanation that truly and seriously has nothing to do with....."AND GOD SAID ", but is the structure of the dictatorship of purpose. Before I continue, I want to once again reiterate, stress and emphasis that if we are to compel reform of Virginia's imprisonment scheme then its mandatory that we affirm that if the reason and purpose of something has nothing to do with how one encounters and experiences it and its existence demands reform, then we are obligated of such awareness. Because just because something has become traditional, doesn't mean its birth wasn't foul and corrupt. In other words, foul and corrupt in this context means, there was a deliberate calculation determined by certain minds and hearts to impose a condition and circumstance, that had the unit of humanity understood, recognized and appreciated the intent, consequences and outcome there would have been a resounding rejection.SO I BEGIN: Yes we breathe air to maintain the biologic and organic process of our existence, but FOOD as energy source, supporting, defining and qualifying the process of existence, is equally determinative and FOOD claims a level of primacy in the entire process, that as source of energy, its acquisition then as a philosophical examination pursuing the preservation of it's structural methods and techniques, employed by Society and its Social Contract is defined as political-economy. Or simply put, without the energy source of food, there isn't the circumstance of a human existence and condition to presume sapience, the dictatorship of purpose and the need for the inevitability of dialectical synthesis. So, with the acquisition of food as energy source defining the primitive affirmations of the "business of human existence" as condition anticipating a Social Contract and the realization of political-economy, every other factor and aspect, is outgrowth and the relative proximity to the qualification of the "business of human existence", then assumes and demands coercion. The relative proximity to the qualification of the business of human existence, appeared as the applied evolution of stages, which the "Industrial Revolution", as it synthesized earlier stages, destroyed the existing dictatorship of purpose and replaced it with a new purpose that transformed the human unit and element into, something more than an entity processing food as energy source, but as A VALUATION AND IT'S REALIZTION. Because the new purpose of the Industrial Revolution demanded the human unit become not a simple consumer, but an element being consumed, by the new function of valuation and its realization, this new dictatorship of purpose required an enforcement Infrastructure, which we now understand as the Justice System and the Imprisonment Application. The human unit that had prior to the Industrial Revolution existed, as a thing for itself, now became a thing in itself, to be consumed, as a creator of wealth or profit, based on proximity within the qualification scheme and process of the business of human existence, or the political-economy. Accordingly, the maintenance of this proximity required coercion.

So prior to the Industrial Revolution, the business of human existence was an amalgamation of everything goes mix of behavior under a feudal determination. In other words the human unit existed, regardless and irrespective of organized levels and circles of interactions and relationships, FOR ITSELF. The obligations of relative existence, were specifically under the "for itself" dynamic. So for example feudalistic terms could demand and compel a portion transfer of that fundamental dictatorship of purpose of existence, from the for itself dynamic irrespective of whether it was a human unit or a group or collective of units. This dictatorship of purpose could be as specific as a hunter providing a portion of his "work" or labor, to the Liege Lord, King, Queen or whoever the entity was filling and occupying the position of Sovereign, under the logic of Taxes, Taxation or Tribute, to the procurement of Women for sexual services, to the Sovereign under the obligation of "pimp-tenure". The intensity of the obligations were not the determining denominator of the For Itself dynamic and parameter of the business of human existence. In other words, the for itself dynamic and parameter was that known and understood history of the business of human existence and condition, which our ancestors had critiqued as explaining the world and its for us to change it by stepping out of its history and constraints, which is exactly what the destruction by the Industrial Revolution accomplished. What is relevant for our work of compelling reform of Virginia's Imprisonment Scheme, demanding that we grasp and understand what the original intent of the Justice Infrastructure, which for our focus is Virginias', is simply this. Once we are clear on the fact that the dictatorship of purpose of the Justice Infrastructure and its imprisonment scheme has nothing to do with the mythological narrative of just due or justice, unless the "justice" is the euphemism of choice for coercion, then we are equipped to refute, repudiate farcical, idealistic and bogus arguments thrown at us by opponents of the inevitable reform. Who in defense of their gluttony at the trough of self-interest, benefiting from Virginia's imprisonment scheme as it currently exists, dredge up arguments birthed and animated with the reactionary fury of the mad and desperate scramble of rats fleeing a sinking ship, that once exposed with the actual history of the purpose of the Justice Infrastructure, can only react with a mask removal of their historic visage, a last ditch flail, grasping onto what for them it has always been about, which is the dehumanization of the human unit, which the transformation from a being for itself into a thing in itself, to be consumed created. So there is nothing surprising about the emergence of the massive and rapid development of the organized-violence of Justice Infrastructures and apparatus symbiotically appearing with the scaling of the Industrial Revolution. Just as the Organized-Violence of military power was required to coerce the necessary trade with colonies, as a result of the Industrial Revolution so was a Justice Infrastructure and its imprisonment scheme required domestically and internally to coerce the former for itself human unit to now become a thing in itself, being consumed by the occupied proximity within the new formulations of the human business of existence compelled by the dictatorship of purpose of the Industrial Revolution. So a imprisonment scheme, a Justice Infrastructure and apparatus, is primarily in existence to "control", LABOR or the Worker, under the dictatorship of purpose of a political-economy.

By William Thorpe

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 .

CRITIQUING THE INCORRIGIBILITY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA WHILE DEFENDING THE PEOPLE, WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF CHALLENGING THE IMPRISONMENT SCHEME IS NOT A CONTRADICTION By William Thorpe

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

I want to begin with this and refute it, not because its premise is illogical, but because practically and historically it is fraudulent. Secondly, it is idealistic, biased and Thirdly it has always been weaponized in that Nietzschean manner of propaganda. Jeff Sessions, the Nation's Attorney General during Trump's first Administration dabbled in its Nietzschean speech and was roundly ridiculed for invoking it as a buffoonish attempt at silencing critics of the deviance and corruption billowing out of "their" ARTICLE II, articulation. What I'm talking about is the Biblical ROMANS 13:1-7.There isn't a context of its affirmation that isn't a disciple of Machiavelli's "opportunism" and its only relevance to our work of reforming Virginia's imprisonment scheme, is its confusing influence on a sizable amount of the People of the Commonwealth, who despite recognizing that the impunity and above-the-lawism of the Virginia prison official is a malignancy and are disgusted by it, however are practically cowed into complicity by its invocation by their various denominational pulpits, who to frame, within their universe are not unlike those embodiments of Government, the Nazarene never passed up an opportunity to expose as antagonistic entities. I BEGIN: Any Virginia Student beginning with Junior High, won't have a problem affirming the necessary and purposeful value of the positive and negative dialectic griding the human business of existence, but with a distinction. Because those same students will, despite affirming the positive in the context of a progressive value of the dialectic interplay and interaction, turn right around and negate their gained insight of the positive value of the dialectic, by perceiving the negative polarity or antithesis as absolute and unresolvable. I have said all of this because it captures and epitomizes the circumstances and character of Virginia's imprisonment scheme. So, for example, it isn't easy for the People of the Commonwealth to set aside the bumper sticker nature of the Speech surrounding Virginia's Justice Infrastructure and give it the required immersive scrutiny it demands. Let's look at it like this the Virginia Department of Corrections or the overseer of the imprisonment scheme, gets the lion's share of taxpayer money. In Virginia's 2026, Budget there were relative cuts across the board while the Department of Corrections' saw an increase. In other words where the money goes isn't a stretch to suppose are the priorities, meaning it should command the People's attention and focus. But true to the dialectic it is the least attended. So, what does the umbrage shown by Judge John A. Gibney in his KING v. OBANNON castigation of the Commonwealth of Virginia, when he said, "For well over a century the Commonwealth of Virginia has disobeyed a Federal Law...." [and this violation was maneuvered into aspect of Virginia's imprisonment scheme], actually tells us about the incorrigibility of the Commonwealth of Virginia? Really not much that the volumes characterizing and documenting the dehumanizing instinct, haven't and are still telling us, [any cursory review of current 2026 court cases filed by Virginia Prisoners against the savagery and barbarism of the professional behavior of the Virginia prison official tells it], which despite the fact the Commonwealth didn't invent savagery and barbarism it is relatively owning, by resisting its abandonment. What our work of reforming the imprisonment scheme ask, is the People, set aside sophistry that induces complicity.

By William Thorpe

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 .

THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA EXPECTS TO BASK IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT HAVING A PAROLE PROCESS IN IT'S IMPRISONMENT SCHEME ASSERTS, WHILE UNDERMINING IT AT EVERY TURN BY William Thorpe

Pictures are taken from the internet and are used for illustrative purposes on

One of our dead and dusty Presidents is attributed with this, which I paraphrase, we are a Nation of Laws and not men. Parole and its process in the Commonwealth of Virginia is such a law and a Society, with the existence of Social Contract formulations as a Parole Process incorporated in its Justice Infrastructure, would comprehensively claim it as bona fides of enlightenment. Because besides the fact the antithesis of enlightenment is the haven of our human condition, we labor like hell, not in its thesis but its concealment and the dictatorial intention of it's deliberateness, reveals its corrupt-value. In other words, we excel at facades and hypocrisies as practice of what it means to undermine and sabotage our aspirations, which in this context, is that LAW MADE MAN and not at exorcising the corruption of it's above-the-lawism. Society's work at Justice and its aspiration of "repairing harm", has conditionally borne the antagonism of that subordination of LAW MADE MAN, so it isn't surprising that is where we see herculean efforts at undermining efforts of it's reform. The Commonwealth of Virginia is not an outlier in the work of undermining and sabotaging reform, which the Parole Process of its Imprisonment Scheme represents. However, the Commonwealth stands as a glaring reprobate, an incorrigible unrepentant actor, because embracing a parole process in its imprisonment scheme, was intended to rehabilitate, its civilization from the absurdity of its 1871 Supreme Court jurisprudence in RUFFIN v. COMMONWEALTH 62 VA. 790, that literally mocked the Speech the Civil War intended on annihilating. So along with other reprehensible moves, which the recent KING v. O'BANNON 817 F. SUPP. 3d 354 after 150 years exposed in 2026, the Parole Process and other reform moves of Virginia's imprisonment scheme were literally and practically intended to redeem and permit the Commonwealth to claim membership into a World moving away from the sort of dehumanization, it was accustomed to, which naturally its Justice Infrastructure reflected. But its one thing to aspire to establishing a set of human relations for a Social Contract, that professes to refute and repudiate, its once upon a time conventions, without actually confessing its misdeeds and that is what the Commonwealth keeps on finding herself dealing with. I want to use two incidents as example. (1) ADKINS v. LIGHTNER 2026 U.S DIST.LEXIS 114231, is a case chronicling a set of events that epitomizes a text book instance of undermining Law and when man resorts to that base extra-judicial behavior. JEFF S. ADKINS is a Virginia Prisoner who was denied Parole in 2021 and he subsequently challenged the denial in Federal Court. Some of the results from his court action are the circumstances revealing and exposing the undermining of Law. ROBERT PAUL LIGHTNER, the defendant, is a Virginia Parole Board examiner, whose function is to interview, parole eligible Virginia prisoners. Mr. Adkins discovered from the processes of his court action that LIGHTNER had concluded from his interviews with Mr. Adkins and I quote "RELEASE WOULD DIMINISH SUCH SERIOUS NATURE" [ of whatever Adkins was imprisoned for].This conclusion and determination by LIGHTNER, is what I want us to focus on and recognize how it absolutely destroys the entire construct and structure of Law and I'm not being hyperbolic. There are those who will argue that LIGHTNER is entitled to his "opinion", which can very well be overruled by the Parole Board in their determinative sitting, but that excuses a flaw in the process that is extra-judicial.

The LIGHTNER is entitled to his "opinion", retort, besides endorsing extra-judicialism, is lazy thinking and presents us with the fulcrum of the inherent corrupt-value of systems, i.e. Social Contract. Because it hinges on and beseeches an equilibrium of human behavior, as we have given it the attribution, PROFESSIONALISM, apart from the socio-person norm, indicates that anticipatory something more than "opinion". What I mean is this, the only reason and basis of the interaction, between Mr. Adkins and Lightner, is law and its anticipated professionalism imbued in Lightner. The Law of Virginia's Parole Process, provided Mr. Lightner, with the "authority" to "restrain" Mr. Adkins, by subjecting him to a parole interview. By exercising the interview and examination authority of Virginia's parole process, Lightner was declaring that not only was he performing a State function, but he understood the very instinct and intention of the Commonwealth in establishing a Parole process. What this requires is a comprehensive grasp of, not the mere mechanics of it's existence, but the function of parole within Virginia's Justice Infrastructure and this fundamentally demands that "professional" cognition of, not a speculative or theoretical grasp of DUE PROCESS OF LAW, but its Applied and Practical objectivity and this is where, what Adkins claims, [which was undisputed and unrefuted], LIGHTNER provided the Virginia Parole Board, that his "release would diminish such serious nature" [again of whatever Adkins was imprisoned for], destroys and betrays whatever logic the Commonwealth pursues in having laws. So let's understand what LIGHTNER is actually doing, which if the People of the Commonwealth are to demand an accountability-function of governance, that is distinct from the restraints of the political artificialness and whimsies of jurisprudence, that at times forgets it is subject, LIGHTNER'S actions must be seen as. Let's begin with the most basic, which is the pivotal apex and apogee of Virginia's Justice Infrastructure weighed the "nature" of Adkins interaction with it and accorded him eligibility of the parole process, which lest we forget, exist for one and only one purpose, that of releasing the imprisoned. Virginia's imprisonment scheme doesn't defer to a later on down the road of imprisonment and the parole process, that an ad hoc speculative imposition assumes a supremacy of authority and "POWERS", that exist no where in all the variegated forms and expressions of LAW, from its theological-intercessionist, to the secular pardon and commutative of a Sovereign or Executive, the privilege of second guessing what a mature Commonwealth of Virginia Jury has "done", which is what LIGHTNER'S actions as exposed by ADKINS speaks to. The LIGHTNER'S of the World have a selective and presumptive grasp of criminality and deviance, that is nothing short of a blind spot in what we can only suppose are indicative of reflexive finger pointing. But Rousseau's critique of the tyranny of the individual, is well understood for the due process of law, to ignore. The Commonwealth of Virginia is gravely harmed, when law violations at it's most basic, above-the-lawism, are knowingly allowed to exist, because it undermines the faith and trust of THE PEOPLE. Just as what a blight spot of fungus reveals, the demographic percentage being subjected to the above-the-lawism of Virginia's Parole process reveals to the greater society that irrespective of size the entire body politic is at risk.(2) Secondly the cases of MOSCHETTI v. OFF. OF INSPECTOR GEN. 2022 U.S. DIST. LEXIS 144143, MOSCHETTI v. NIXON PEABODY LLP 2024 U.S. DIST.LEXIS 95757, MOSCHETTI v. OFF. OF INSPECTOR GEN.758 F.SUPP. 3d. 533. MOSCHETTI also speaks to the above-the-lawism sabotaging the faith and trust of the People.

1. Virginia Parole Grant Rate

This is the single most important statistic because it directly tests the article's underlying claim.

Recent public commentary citing Virginia Parole Board records states that in 2025 the Board considered 2,609 inmates and granted parole to 32, producing a grant rate of approximately 1.2%. [cardinalnews.org]

That statistic allows you to ask:

If parole exists to provide meaningful release opportunities, what does a 1.2% approval rate tell us about the system's actual function?

The article becomes much stronger when readers can see the scale of denial rather than merely hear about it.

---

2. Number of Parole-Eligible Prisoners

Virginia abolished discretionary parole for most offenses committed after 1995, but a population of parole-eligible prisoners remains. [vadoc.virginia.gov], [virginia.gov]

A useful chart would show:

• Total parole-eligible population
• Number considered annually
• Number granted
• Number denied
• Number deferred

This would reveal whether the system is functioning as a review mechanism or merely as a procedural checkpoint.

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3. Reasons for Denial

This may be the most powerful evidence for Thorpe's thesis.

Using the monthly Board reports available publicly, a VAPAC researcher could code:

• Serious nature of offense
• Release diminishes seriousness of crime
• Public safety risk
• Institutional conduct
• Lack of rehabilitation evidence
• Victim opposition

The question is:

How often does the Board rely on offense-based reasons versus rehabilitation-based reasons?

If offense severity dominates decades after sentencing, that would directly support the article's critique. [vpb.virginia.gov], [law.lis.virginia.gov]

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4. Time Already Served

Another strong metric:

For each granted and denied case:

• Sentence imposed
• Time actually served
• Age at review
• Number of prior reviews

Readers respond strongly to:

"Prisoner served 35 years and was denied based on offense seriousness."

The longer the served time, the more forceful the policy question becomes.

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5. Recidivism Among Released Parolees

This is critical because opponents will argue public safety.

Virginia itself tracks:

"The percentage of inmates released in a year who are convicted of a new offense within three years of release." [reports.dp...rginia.gov]

If recidivism among elderly parolees or long-term prisoners is low, that becomes direct evidence against perpetual denial based on speculative future risk.

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The Most Effective "Data Box" For This Specific Article

The Numbers Behind Virginia Parole

• 2,609 parole cases considered in 2025. [cardinalnews.org]
• 32 grants issued in 2025. [cardinalnews.org]
• Approximate grant rate: 1.2%. [cardinalnews.org]
• Virginia abolished parole for most post-1995 offenses, leaving only a limited parole-eligible population. [vadoc.virginia.gov]
• Virginia law requires consideration of rehabilitation, maturation, educational progress, prosocial behavior, and community support in parole decisions. [law.lis.virginia.gov]

The Question

If rehabilitation, maturity, education, and community support are statutory considerations, why are so few parole-eligible prisoners released? 

NOTE AND ATTENTION THE ABOVE SUPPORTING INFORMATION IS ALSO A RESEARCH GUIDE FOR THE READER TO USE IN FURTHER RESEARCHING AND UNDERSTANDING VIRGINIAS PAROLE PROCESS.

By William Thorpe

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 .

IN FOUR YEARS "THEY" SCAMMED THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA OF APPX. $4 MILLION By William Thorpe

Pictures are taken from the internet and are used for illustrative purposes on

And you know what unless the People of the Commonwealth say enough is enough. Enough with the selective criminalization, enough with the selective outrage, enough with re-characterizations and saying up is down and down is up and WE ARE ALL HELD TO THE SAME DEFINITIONS, this roller coaster existence of the exploitation of "harm" and "injustice" will persist. I BEGIN: During the Administration of Governor Glen Youngkin and his Republican cabalistic stooges, much noise was made about the Virginia Parole Board rarely paroling eligible Virginia Prisoners. Even to the extent that the Chairperson of the Board, Patricia West felt comfortable enough to publicly state (and I paraphrase) that she'd never vote to parole anyone imprisoned for a violent offense. I started this work with, "enough with the selective outrage, enough with re-characterizations".Because as much as it is historically and intractably convenient to highlight a type of deviance and criminality, the more destructively insidious and warned of "enemies from within" of the Social Contract are the nose thumbing of the likes of a Patricia West and the collective lawlessness of the Virginia Parole Board under Youngkin and egged on by the inherent lawlessness and corruption of reactionaries and in this case, Virginia Republicans, whose nose thumbing compromises and betrays that weary trust and faith held by "the people" in the aspired commonweal of the Social Contract. In an ideology-less Social Contract, (and contrary to the propaganda canned for us, nothing about Virginias' or for that matter, the National construct is ideological or driven by it, not to get into it, but a Social Contract structured on Ideology, is comprehensively Revolutionary, questioning and critiquing each and every aspect and circumstance of its existence. Imagine doing that in a deluded construct whose introspection is incapable of shaking mythological and theological presumptions and is endeared to that, sirenic Sisyphean-quixote wheel reinvention which is where Virginia and the Nation preen), the bastion of the People are the whimsy of "trust and faith" along with the enormous baggage of it's contradictions and antagonisms. The behavior of the Glen Youngkin appointed and Patricia West led Virginia Parole Board, for the four years of their Republican lawlessness painted all of this for us in the bright red strokes of nose thumbing, daring the Virginia People to say enough is enough. You cannot on the one hand claim authority from a law then with a wink and nod blatantly violate it. Because Parole and its process in the Virginia imprisonment scheme, isn't that of, should the confinement and imprisonment continue but why it shouldn't. Nor is it an ad hoc opportunity for a re-litigation, of an adjudication process that has already satisfied its Virginia law provisions or better put, a second guessing of a realized and maturely constituted Virginia Jury. A process that contains within itself Parole. Parole whose sole existence in the imprisonment scheme is that of "releasing the prisoner from confinement". This is the law, those Youngkinites on the Virginia Parole Board, casually and systematically violated, by failing to parole eligible Virginia prisoners, even as they kept on collecting their Virginia tax payer provided six figure pay checks. Which for those aggregate four years of tenure, added to an approximate $4 Million scam. This isn't complicated and obfuscating to grasp. Virginia law is clear the Parole Board's duty and legal obligation is to review the provision of parole, not preside over its denial. The Virginia tax payer wasn't paying Patricia West and co.to second guess the law and its will.

By William Thorpe 

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 .

VIRGINIA'S IMPRISONMENT SCHEME WOULD RATHER WE FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL VIOLATIONS, THAT OLD TWO STEP, WELL WE SHOULD BY NOW KNOW BETTER By William Thorpe

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There isn't a violation and harm inflicted on the Prisoner and specifically for purposes of this work, THE VIRGINIA PRISONER, that isn't reflective of what is happening in the larger and "free" Society, with the only distinction that on the Prisoner it reaches and achieves maximum intention and revelation. First of all I need to dispense with this confusion, that only serves, that "self-check" function of how the socio-person is "controlled", meaning our grasp and understanding of conditions, circumstances and situations which in turn determines our responses and reactions. Which is the theological narrative and present it's nakedness, which simply is, the contradiction of "Property" and its MATERIAL formulant, has always, when in that unanalyzed and uncritiqued state been that proverbial "fly in the ointment", imposing its confusion, which in turn has been symbiotically exploited by "our", human conditional short sightedness, as justification, or proof, grounding a narrative, that serves a truly monstrous Liege Lord, which our ancients in a brief moment of honesty, gave us (and I paraphrase), we've encountered the enemy and it's us. This work isn't going down that rabbit hole, I had to however establish it as preface, because our work of holding the Virginia Prison Official demands that before we engage the antagonism presented by the Commonwealth's organized-violence in its prison-official form, we recognize and come to terms with that, we've encountered the enemy and its us, because without our complicity in all its myriad expressions, there isn't anything for the violating narrative to hide behind. This is not the first time I'm stressing the fact, that Virginia's imprisonment scheme would rather we only speak to its countless individual misdeeds. Because it accomplishes a couple of sub-functions:(1) individualizing misdeeds, legitimizes its self asserted mission and (2) we unconsciously moderate our analysis and critique, regardless of intensity and extremity of language. Because as soon as we affirm the misdeed by complaining of its occurrence, at the expense of focusing on the fact that whatever logic presented by "Virginia's" imprisonment scheme is fundamentally fraudulent, we've participated in that Brer Rabbit syndrome of ignoring that the entire construct is covered in sticky tar. The issue isn't whether imprisonment should be aspect of Virginia's Justice Infrastructure, because, Virginia's Social Contract, hasn't ever democratically presented it for debate. Instead, its antebellum, chattel slavery origin was simply redressed and reclothed in other suppositionary garbs post the Commonwealth's defeat in its traitorous Civil War misadventure and foisted from the supremacist presumptions. So its one thing to speak of a Due Process of peers, when the qualifications of "peers", is just another presumptive contradiction that is yet, to be resolved. So when we speak of the Accountability-Function of governance we are not doing it within the biases of Virginia's aspirations, but upon that legitimacy, which the Great Schizophrenic In Chief Thomas Jefferson grounded whatever claim the rebellious and separatist North American Colonies had as logic, from The Britain of King George, with this in the 1776 declaration of Independence," To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:", this Jeffersonian imploration of a "candid world", attest to an accountability-function of governance existing in itself.

By William Thorpe

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 .

SOCIETY IS STRUCTURED ON IDEAS PART XI By William Thorpe

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Here are a listing of materials, FAMILY, ALLY and FRIENDS of the Virginia Prisoner should familiarize themselves with and again as a reminder, these resources are also for our National Bruthas and Sistahs.

OBJECTIVE PUNISHMENT---89 U.CIN.L.REV.628 by ANTHONY M. DILOF DRUGS AND VIOLENCE---88 S.CAL.L.REV.227---by SHIMA BARADARAN [cited in WEIDMAN v. COLVIN 164 F.SUPP.3d 650, UNITED STATES v. FUGITT 2023 U.S. DIST. LEXIS 30319] ETERNAL LAW: THE UNDERPINNING OF DHARMA AND KARMA IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM----13 RICH. PUB. INT. L .REV. 49 by SHIV NARAYAN PERSAUD A CASE AGAINST THE KANTIAN RETRIBUTIVIST THEORY OF PUNISHMENT: A RESPONSE TO PROFESSOR PUGSLEY---11 HOF. L. R.273 by LEON PERL [this is an important read because it exposes the speculations exploited by minds and hearts who capture elected legislators, despite what an electorate might have voted for or against] THE JURISPRUDENCE OF CRIME AND PUNISHMENT FROM PLATO TO HEGEL---39 . JURN 97 by MATTHEW A. PRULEY [this also deals with the speculations influencing elected legislators unbeknownst to the voting electorate, who assume a politician's position on Justice is organically derived] POSSESSING INTANGIBLES---116 NW. U.L. REV.1226 by JOAO MARINOTTI THE TRIAL OF BIGGER THOMAS: RACE, GENDER, AND TRESPASS---31 N.Y. U REV.L. and SOC.CHANGE 1 by I. BENNETT CAPERS [this work is significant because it exposes the casual-ness of bias. The work is an analysis of Richard Wright's seminal work NATIVE SON and from my point of view all of theses sorts of effort behave as if we are fundamentally clueless as to the nature of the American Justice Infrastructure and the "why". Because we all understand and know the why, yet we act as if what we lack is revelatory insight, when the polemic has been repeated over and over again and again ad nauseam] FAITH HEALING EXCEPTIONS VERSUS PARENS PATRIAE: SOMETHING GOTTA GIVE---10 FIRST AMEND.L.REV. ---692 by REBECCA WILLIAMS [cited in STATE v. NEWMANN 832 N.W.2d 560---WISCONSIN CASE] MAJOR QUESTIONS HYPOCRISY---76 ADMIN.L.REV. 771 by KEVIN O. LESKE [this work is highly relevant because it is speaking to and exposing recent ploys and gambits by the reactionaries on the Supreme Court of The United States and illustrating the necessity for political attentiveness by the electorate, which is what this listing is framing] REVIEWING THE THREE TRUMP APPOINTEES: EX ANTE AND EX POST---1 TEX. A and M.J.L and CIV. GOVERNANCE 431 by JOSH BLACKMAN [this work is actually pathetic because it is caught up and stuck in the mediocrity of Conservativism and Liberalism, which is simply a statement of interest. What I mean by interest is simply this, political-economy is the foundation of society and the Social Contract, so a world view is simply an expression of methods and means employed to secure ones optimal placement within the business of human existence. Conservatism per virtue of its insularity is systemically corrupt, while Liberalism in its efforts at resolving those inevitabilities of the business of human existence, acknowledges the inherent corruption of approximations. American Conservatism can be reduced to the idealistic pursuit of supremacy in all its deviances, while American Liberalism is revealed as a mute, unwilling to provide the necessary critique] ERIE AT EIGHTY: CHOICE OF LAW ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES ERIE AS A WAY OF LIFE---52 AKRON L. REV. 198 by ERNEST A. YOUNG FEDERAL HABEAS CORPUS REVIEW OF NONCONSTITUTIONAL ERRORS: THE COGNIZABILIT Y OF VIOLATIONS OF THE INTERSTATE AGREEMENT ON DETAINERS---83 COLUM L. REV. 975 by CHRISTOPHER D. CERF [cited in FEX v. MICHIGAN 507 U.S. 43 and in 1st,7th and 9th CIRCUIT cases and in two State cases]

By William Thorpe

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 .