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

IS IT APPROPRIATE FOR A VIRGINIA PRISON TO ASK IF ONE ATTENDS RELIGIOUS SERVICES DURING PRISONERS EVALUATION

Why is a Virginia Prison, a Government entity using religion in the evaluation of prisoners clearly in violation of Separation of State & Religion?

By vapac

WHO CARES IF WE SUFFER FROM POOR NUTRITION WRITTEN BY CHANELLE BURNETTE VIRGINIA FLUVANNA WOMEN'S CORRECTIONAL CENTER

"If at every doctor's appointment we are told that we are overweight and need to lose some, how are we to do such with what we are given to work with?

For each of the meals provided daily, the portion of starch is undeniably the largest! Lose weight? Caloric intake seems to simply be a number to abide by, even though the serving sizes are misproportioned. They just slap something on the tray for the sake of the job! Just to say "hey we fed them today"

Even though the vegetables were dirty and rotten...even though the fruit had been frozen, thawed and served because it was bought in excess.."hey we fed them today." Even though the staff is provided with bottled water and we drink the contaminated water and contract H.Pylori, "hey, at least we [prisoner] have water to drink."

What about the essential vitamins and nutrients necessary for good health? What about Vitamin C to fight off germs in a medical facility? Why all the processed meat that we don't eat go to waste? Why, when people are starving out there and it would be so simple and much more cost effective to serve things like tuna salad or egg salad?

What about the vegans and vegetarians? How many beans must they eat? How about more leafy, green vegetables for those of us whom are iron deficient and are forced to purchase a multivitamin from the commissary which contains no iron?

And what about Keefe Commissary Network that has once again raised prices to ridiculous amounts yet provide nothing healthy? They continue to rip us off for billions of dollars annually and people are still dying in a medical facility because we cannot even at least eat right to maintain our own good health!

So...Between Keefe and our own chow hall which is secretly interconnected, who cares if we suffer poor nutrition? As long as the rich get richer, who really cares?"

Written By Chanell Burnette

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chanell Burnette is currently a prisoner at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, she is a member of  Virginia Prisons Accountability Committee, Virginia Prisoner of Conscience as well as Coalition for Justice, She has expressed she is highly appreciative for any platform where "I am able to stand on and allow my voice to be heard, we all need an outlet to express ourselves from behind these walls"  we at "vapac" are giving her "her" platform, thank Ms. Burnette for sharing her story and  for being the first Women's submission.. 

Further Reading 

• To lower prison health costs, Maryland serve healthy food - The Washington Post
• VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS MONOPOLY WITH KEEFE COMPANY & PRAYER OIL

VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS MONOPOLY WITH KEEFE COMPANY & PRAYER OIL

For all of you out there who were under the illusion and delusion of what's the driving motive force of prison. The below should easily shake you out of it. The driving force is as everything else in life  MONEY. The state of Virginia and it's VADOC has a monopoly contract with the Keefe Company and not even the U.S. 1st amendment prohibition against state interference in religion hinders it. So you see Prison Policy Reflected.




By vapac

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